Urban Design Project Competition of Orhangazi Square and its Vicinity

Bursa Orhangazi Urban Square: “Slow City” in the Historical Ottoman Core

“I am neither in time

Nor entirely out of it.

In the indivisible flow of

A monolithic, wide moment.” Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar

 Bursa, the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire, has faced both glory and destructions throughout its history, rising from its ashes every single time. The urban texture of Bursa is shaped around the historical core. Today, the urban identity of Bursa is about to be diminished: the once-green Bursa is being replaced by a city without fertile plains, whose social and religious complexes, and inns are lost within a lot of concrete buildings. Orhangazi Urban Square and its environs demonstrate a cultural erosion conditioned by this development.

The continued presence of the pedestrian movement is a significant challenge for the project area and its surrounding landscape. “Slow City” was proposed as a model to design pedestrian-oriented decisions and spaces, and to enable the historic core to be used comfortably, peacefully and securely by the residents and visitors of Bursa. The fundamental decision here is the mutual existence of the architecture and the landscape. The square, which lies in the east-west direction as a linear space, is aimed to be embraced by the rehabilitated market place from the south and to become a major transfer hub for the pedestrians. Courtyards of the inns will be renovated with an innovative approach chaotic and undefined vacant spaces will be rehabilitated to showcase tranquility and functional urban furniture.

This project won the third mention award in the Urban Design Project Competition of Orhangazi Square and its Vicinity in 2012.