Thesis Defense - Fauzi Wibowo (MSARCH)

Fauzi Wibowo – M.Sc. in Architecture

Asst. Prof. Nevşet Gül Çanakçıoğlu – Advisor

Date: 23.05.2023

Time: 13.30-15:00

Location: AB4 315

“AN ANALYSIS OF PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES OF STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS THROUGH COGNITIVE MAPPING: SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT IN NİŞANTEPE NEIGHBORHOOD”

Asst. Prof. Nevşet Gül Çanakçıoğlu, Özyeğin University

Prof. Alper Ünlü, Özyeğin University

Asst. Prof. Mine Tunçok Sarıberberoğlu, Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University

Abstract:

As of the 60s, Istanbul’s neighborhoods started to take place with the emergence of settlements due to rapid migration in 50s. Population in the city center did increase, in this way so did it disperse to the outskirts of the city. Around 2010, Istanbul initiated urban development and the neighborhood affected by the wave of urban development started in the center of Istanbul.

            In the case of Nişantepe Neighborhood, it has been designed informally, neglected by governmental decisions (Ozorhon and Ozorhon, 2017 as cited in Canakcioglu, 2020). Thus, due to the low level of social and economic values, socially disadvantaged groups of people started to build their own houses informally without any license or permission. These informal settlements (gecekondu) mostly consist of local people Romans, starting from the 1980s when urbanization started (Ozorhon and Ozorhon, 2017). Not only did the government build public housing in the neighborhood with the cooperation of TOKİ and capital investments, but also private educational buildings by 2010s started to emerge so the land value has been increased, too.

Within the scope of this thesis, it is claimed that the children who grow up and go to school in such diversly unattached settlements, which can be considered as the periphery of Istanbul, tend to be cognitively affected by the physically and socially tense environment. Since children have their own perceptual processes affected not only by social parameters considering their parents, friends, teachers, but also physical parameters considering the urban and environmental conditions around them. Though, it is supported by the literature that the developmental stages of perception in children have an impact on shaping their future and individual behavior (Hume et al., 2004; Canakcioglu, 2011).

In this framework, this study aims to analyze the perceptual processes of middle school students particularly 13-year-olds going to the schools located in Nişantepe Neighborhood, about their school environments by comparing the perceptual and syntactic data of two different types of school environments: a private school and a governmental public school. The study is based on three datasets; the data of the spatial configuration of the schools are revealed through cognitive mapping based on the students’ drawings, and the demographic data is collected through surveys filled in by the parents of the students. The research focuses more onto the physical and social characteristics considering the environments of the schools.

Within this context, the research question asks how the children, who are going to school in Nişantepe neighborhood, perceive their school environments and how the cognitive dataset obtained through cognitive mapping sessions correlates with demographic and syntactic variables. The study hypothesizes that the cognitive mappings created by children which were evaluated in accordance with Lynch’s image parameters would have a correlation with the demographic variables obtained in surveys and Space Syntax analysis. The mixture of land uses in the neighborhood seems to be fertile for the case study area in the research, and it would be significant to see the relationship between students at a private school and their school environment, Nişantepe neighborhood.

            The study is conducted in two middle schools located in Nişantepe; one is a private school and the other one is a public school. Through data collection, parents and students are given a hardcopy of a Google Document Survey which was prepared online for the Students of 7th Grade (13-year-old children) who were requested to draw a drawing with the title of “draw your school and its environment” and it was also noted that it may include some marks/notes regarding their own emotions and thoughts on an A4 paper which would approximately take 15-20 minutes. Then, they were supposed to give them back to the teachers. The surveys were expected to be given to the Art/Drawing Course teachers or responsible classroom teachers in the scope of their homework. In the following step the surveys were evaluated through SPSS analysis and the drawings were evaluated according to Lynch’s image parameters and the spatial configurations of the schools will be evaluated through the Space Syntax method. The research is expected to contribute to accordance with achieving better planned, designed, and integrated school environments within the urban context of the city.

Bio:

Mr. Fauzi Wibowo completed his bachelor’s degree in architecture at Özyeğin University in 2019. Subsequently, he gained practical experience by working in multiple architectural offices. In 2020, Mr. Wibowo commenced his master's degree in architecture at Özyeğin University while simultaneously undertaking freelance work on international projects. At present, he actively engages in his master's thesis under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Nevşet Gül Çanakçıoğlu, concurrently contributing to a Tübitak Research Project as a Research Scholar. His recent achievements include the publication of a conference paper titled "Examining the Pedestrian Movements in a Commercial Passageway Building: Grand Beşiktaş Bazaar" at the esteemed 13th International Sinan Symposium. His academic research delves into the theory of human behavior in architecture and urban spaces, with a particular focus on space syntax.