The Assemblage Concept to the Place
Sensing Urban Interiors of Istanbul by a Creative Walking Method
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62161/sauc.v12.5985Keywords:
Assemblage concept, Multisensory Urban Experiences, Sensewalking, Historical urban interiors in IstanbulAbstract
Diverse approaches rooted in humanistic and ethnographic backgrounds have examined the place. The Beyoğlu district offers a wide variety of social-spatial experiences within Istanbul's urban interiors. We explored how and through what mechanisms multisensory experiences shape and enhance the assemblages in historical urban interiors. Assemblage thinking is offered not so much as a theory but rather as an intellectual toolkit for understanding how places work. The research employed the 'sensewalking' method, a creative, ethnography-based approach, to investigate the visual, auditory, and tactile attributes of urban interiors. The discussion demonstrated that urban assemblages arise from the fluid identities, socio-spatial interconnections, functions, activities, and multisensory experiences. The study benefits urban interior design and planning, as its outcomes support placemaking initiatives and future urban potentials.
Downloads
Global Statistics ℹ️
|
0
Views
|
0
Downloads
|
|
0
Total
|
|
References
Acar, Y., Demet, G., & Kaynar, M. (2023). Data and discourse: an assessment of Taksim urban design competition in terms of populism and participation. Journal of Urban Design, 28(6), 682-698. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2023.2182767
Adams, M., & Askins, K. (2009). Sensewalking: sensory walking methods for social scientists. In Proceedings of the RGSIBG Annual Conference 2009, 26–28 August 2009.
Agnew, J. (2011). Space and place. Handbook of geographical knowledge, 2011, 316-331.
Aksoy, A., & Robins, K. (2011). Changing urban cultural governance in Istanbul: The Beyoğlu plan. Culture Policy and Management Research Centre.
Attiwill, S. (2011). Urban interior: Interior-making in the urban environment. In Proceedings of the 2011 IDA Congress Taipei Education Conference (pp. 217-224). Taiwan Design Center.
Attiwill, S. (2020). Urban Interiors and Interiorities. In Cultural, theoretical, and innovative approaches to contemporary interior design (pp. 58-67). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
Augé, M. (2020). Non-places: An introduction to supermodernity. Verso Books.
Bachelard, G. (2014). The poetics of space. Penguin.
Bartu, A. (1999). Who owns the old quarters? Rewriting histories in a global era. Istanbul. Between the Global and the Local. Lanham, Md, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 31-44.
Beidler, K. J., & Morrison, J. M. (2016). Sense of place: inquiry and application. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 9(3), 205-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2015.1056210
Birkalan-Gedik, H. (2011). Anthropological writings on urban Turkey: A historical overview. Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development, 1-66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41291337
Bloomer, K. C., Moore, C. W., Yudell, R. J., & Yudell, B. (1977). Body, memory, and architecture. Yale University Press.
Bowden, S. (2020). Assembling agency: Expression, action, and ethics in Deleuze and Guattari's A thousand plateaus. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 58(3), 383-400. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12384
Bruce, N., Condie, J., Henshaw, V., & Payne, S. R. (2015). Analysing olfactory and auditory sensescapes in English cities: Sensory expectation and urban environmental perception. Ambiances. Environnement sensible, architecture et espace urbain. https://doi.org/10.4000/ambiances.560
Buchanan, I. (2017). Assemblage theory, or, the future of an illusion. Deleuze Studies, 11(3), 457-474. https://doi.org/10.3366/dls.2017.0276
Bull, M. (2020). Sounding out the City: An auditory epistemology of urban experience. In The auditory culture reader (pp. 73-86). Routledge.
Casey, E. S. (2002). Representing place: landscape painting and maps. U of Minnesota Press.
Cezar, M. (1991). XIX. yüzyıl Beyoğlusu. Akbank.
Cresswell, T. J. (1992). In place/out of place: Geography, ideology and transgression. The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Cuba, L., & Hummon, D. M. (1993). A place to call home: Identification with dwelling, community, and region. Sociological Quarterly, 34(1), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1993.tb00133.x
Degen, M. M. (2008). Sensing cities: Regenerating public life in Barcelona and Manchester. Routledge.
Degen, M. M., & Rose, G. (2012). The sensory experiencing of urban design: The role of walking and perceptual memory. Urban studies, 49(15), 3271-3287. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098012440463
DeLanda, M. (2016). Assemblage theory. Edinburgh University Press.
Deleuze, G., & Parnet, C. (2007). dialogues II. Columbia University Press.
Demirakın, N. I. (2006). A study of Ottoman modernisation on the city: The sixth municipal district of Istanbul (1858-1877) (Master's thesis, Bilkent Universitesi (Turkey)).
Demirkol-Ertürk, Ş., & Paker, S. (2014). Beyoğlu/Pera as a translating site in Istanbul. Translation Studies, 7(2), 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781700.2013.874538
Dewsbury, J. D. (2011). The Deleuze‐Guattarian assemblage: plastic habits. Area, 43(2), 148-153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41240478
Dinçer, İ. (2011). The impact of neoliberal policies on historic urban space: Areas of urban renewal in Istanbul. International planning studies, 16(1), 43-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2011.552474
Dokmeci, V., & Ozus, E. (2005). Effects of revitalisation in historical city center of Istanbul. International Real Estate Review, 8(1), 144-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2011.08.010
Dovey, K. (2009). Becoming places: Urbanism/architecture/identity/power. Routledge.
Dovey, K. (2013). Assembling architecture. Deleuze and architecture, 131-148.
Eberhard, J. P. (2007). Architecture and the brain: A new knowledge base from neuroscience. Greenway Communications/Östberg.
Ekdi, F. P. Ö., & Çıracı, H. (2015). Cultural/creative industries in Istanbul: Beyoğlu case. A| Z ITU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture, 12(1), 67-82.
Ekmekci, O. (2014). Contesting neo-liberal urbanism in Istanbul: The case of Taksim Square and beyond.
Elicin, Y. (2014). Neoliberal transformation of the Turkish city through the Urban Transformation Act. Habitat International, 41, 150-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2013.07.006
Enlil, Z. M. (2011). The neoliberal agenda and the changing urban form of Istanbul. International Planning Studies, 16(1), 5-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2011.552475
Eraydın, A., & Demirdağ, İ. (2017). Dealing with Urban Diversity: The Case of Istanbul.
Erbil, A. Ö., & Erbil, T. (2024). Unveiling the role of the state in Istanbul’s urban transformation: Insights from Galataport redevelopment. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(11).
Erem, Ö., & Şener, E. G. (2008). Complexity versus sustainability in urban space: The case of Taksim Square, Istanbul. A| Z ITU Journal of the Faculty of Architecture, 5(01), 54-73.
Eren, İ., & Aktuğlu Aktan, E. Ö. (2025). Decoding the socio-spatial mosaic of public space: an in-depth exploration of Taksim Square. Planning Perspectives, 40(2), 353-374. https://doi.org/10.1080/02665433.2024.2420201
Erkut, G., & Shirazi, M. (2014). Dimensions of urban re-development: The case of Beyoglu, Istanbul.
Ertep, H. (2009). Chaos or homogenisation? The role of shop signs in transforming urban fabric in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Visual Communication, 8(3), 263-272.
Fielding, H. A. (2014). Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In Film, Theory and Philosophy (pp. 81-90). Routledge.
Gallese, V. (2015). Architectural space from within. Architecture and Empathy, Routledge, 33-43.
Grosz, E. (2003). Deleuze, theory, and space. Log, (1), 77-86.
Gussow, A. (1971). A sense of place: The artist and the American land. New York: Friends of the Earth. The Seabury Press.
Harvey, D. (2006). Space as a keyword (pp. 70-93). na.
Henckel, D. (2019). Soundwalks as sensewalks: The case for integrated sensewalks. Inter-Noise and Noise-Con Congress and Conference Proceedings, 259(6), 2995-3005.
Henshaw, V. (2013). Urban smellscapes: Understanding and designing city smell environments. Routledge.
Henshaw, V. A., & Cox, T. J. M. (2009). Researching urban olfactory environments and place through sensewalking. In PhD Colloquium on 'Understanding Places'.
Howes, D. (2006). Charting the Sensorial Revolution. The Senses and Society, 1(1), 113–128. https://doi.org/10.2752/174589206778055673
Howes, D., & Classen, C. (2013). Ways of sensing: Understanding the senses in society. Routledge.
Jackson, J. B. (1994). A sense of place, a sense of time. Design Quarterly, (164), 24-27.
Jive'n, G., & Larkham, P. J. (2003). Sense of place, authenticity and character: A commentary. Journal of urban design, 8(1), 67-81.
Jorgensen, B. S., & Stedman, R. C. (2001). Sense of place as an attitude: Lakeshore owners attitudes toward their properties. Journal of environmental psychology, 21(3), 233-248.
Kentel, K. M. (2018). Assembling 'Cosmopolitan'Pera: an infrastructural history of late ottoman İstanbul (Doctoral dissertation).
Kürkçüoğlu, E., & Soyguzeloglu, B. (2021). Pandemi Sürecinde Kentsel Mekânı ve Gündelik Yaşam Pratiklerini Ritimanaliz ile Okumak: İstiklal Caddesi Örneği. İDEALKENT, (COVID-19 Sonrası Kentsel Kamusal Mekânların Dönüşümü), 244-276.
Lefebvre, H. (2012). From the production of space. In Theatre and performance design (pp. 81-84). Routledge.
Leveratto, J. (2019). Urban interiors: a retroactive investigation. Journal of Interior Design, 44(3), 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/joid.12153
Lynch, K. (1995). City sense and city design: writings and projects of Kevin Lynch. MIT press.
Mace, V. (2014). Sensing the urban interior.
Maessen, E. (2021). Beyoğlu Reconsidered. Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, 8(1), 45-67.
Maessen, E. (2022). Representing Modern Istanbul: Urban History and International Institutions in Twentieth Century Beyoğlu. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Maessen, E. (2024). The Beyoğlu District between Resilience and Conflict 1950–2010. Constantinople through the Ages: The Visible City from Its Foundation to Contemporary Istanbul, 8, 360. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004710986_016
Mallgrave, H. F. (2012). Should Architects Care about Neuroscience?. Architecture and Neuroscience: A Tapio Wirkkala-Rut Bryk Design Reader, ed. P. Tidwell (Espoo: Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation), 23-42.
Mallgrave, H. F. (2013). Architecture and embodiment: the implications of the new sciences and humanities for design. Routledge.
Malpas, J. (2013). Rethinking dwelling: Heidegger and the question of place. Enigma: He Aupiki.
Malpas, J. (2017). Heidegger and the Thinking of Place: Explorations in the Topology of Being. MIT Press.
Manzo, L., & Devine-Wright, P. (2013). Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications. Routledge.
Massey, D. (2008). A global sense of place. In The cultural geography reader (pp. 269-275). Routledge.
Mattern, S. (2008). Silent, invisible city: Mediating urban experience for the other senses. Mediacity: Situations, practices and encounters, 155-176.
Medway, D. (2014). Rethinking place branding and the “other” senses. In Rethinking place branding: Comprehensive brand development for cities and regions (pp. 191-209). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1965). Phenomenology of perception. Translated by Colin Smith.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2004). Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Basic Writings. Psychology Press.
Mutman, D., & Turgut, H. (2018). Colliding urban transformation process: The case of Historical Peninsula, Istanbul. ArchNet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 12(1), 164-181.
Najafi, M., & Shariff, M. K. B. M. (2011). The concept of place and sense of place in architectural studies. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(8), 1054-1060.
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: towards a phenomenology of architecture.
O'Neill, M., & Hubbard, P. (2010). Walking, sensing, belonging: Ethno-mimesis as performative praxis. Visual Studies, 25(1), 46-58.
Öz, Ö., & Eder, M. (2012). Rendering Istanbul's periodic bazaars invisible: reflections on urban transformation and contested space. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(2), 297-314.
Özakın, E. Ö. (2011). Space, identity, and abjection: Purification of Beyoğlu (Doctoral dissertation, Bilkent Universitesi (Turkey)).
Özbek, B. (2020). Beyoğlu-İstiklal Caddesi'nin 1970 Sonrası Dönüşümü Üzerine Mimari Değerlendirmeler (Master's thesis, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü).
Maessen, E. (2017). Reading Landscape in Beyoğlu and Tarlabasi: Engineering a 'Brand New'Cosmopolitan Space, 1980–2013. International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity, 5(1), 47-67.
Ozus, E., Turk, S. S., & Dokmeci, V. (2011). Urban restructuring of Istanbul. European Planning Studies, 19(2), 331-356.
Pallasmaa, J. (2011). The embodied image: Imagination and imagery in architecture. John Wiley & Sons.
Panelli, R. (2003). Social geographies: from difference to action.
Paramita, S., Reyes, C., Duarte, D., Rojas, H., Perez, A., Erkut, G., & Shirazi, M. R. (2014). Commuting dynamics in Istiklal Street. Dimensions of urban redevelopment, the case of Beyoğlu, 197-223.
Pink, S. (2015). Doing sensory ethnography.
Poot, T., De Vos, E., & Van Acker, M. (2018). Thinking beyond dualities in public space: The unfolding of urban interiority as a set of interdisciplinary lenses. Interiors, 9(3), 324-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/20419112.2019.1622235
Poot, T., Van Acker, M., & De Vos, E. (2015). The Public Interior: The meeting place for the urban and the interior. Idea Journal, 15(1), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.37113/ideaj.vi0.52
Rapoport, A. (1990). The meaning of the built environment: A nonverbal communication approach. University of Arizona Press.
Relph, E. (1970). An inquiry into the relations between phenomenology and geography. Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 14(3), 193-201.
Relph, E. (1997). Sense of place. Ten geographic ideas that changed the world, 205-226.
Richardson, J. (2012). Heidegger. Routledge.
Rodriguez, M. A., & Azenha, A. L. (2014). Understanding the urban context. Dimensions of urban redevelopment—The case of Beyoğlu, Istanbul.
Salah Ouf, A. M. (2001). Authenticity and the sense of place in urban design. Journal of Urban Design, 6(1), 73-86.
Sandıkcı, Ö. (2015). Strolling through Istanbul's Beyoğlu: In-between difference and containment. Space and Culture, 18(2), 198-211.
Seamon, D. (2013). Place attachment and phenomenology. Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications, 12-22.
Sert, E., & Tunçay, H. E. (2014). Cities, Social Cohesion and the Environment: The Case of Taksim Square, İstanbul. New Opportunities and Impasses: Theorizing and Experiencing Politics, 136.
Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2004). Places to play, places in play. In Tourism mobilities (pp. 13-22). Routledge.
Shirazi, M. R., & Erkut, G. (2014). Taksim, the metaphor. Erkut, G. & Shirazi, MR Dimensions of urban redevelopment, the case of Beyoglu, Istanbul, 224-229.
Simonsen, K. (2005). Bodies, sensations, space and time: The contribution from Henri Lefebvre. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 87(1), 1-14.
Sınmaz, S., & Altanlar, A. (2021). Culture-led urban transformation strategies for industrial heritage and industrial areas in Istanbul. ICONARP International Journal of Architecture and Planning, 9(2), 1010-1035.
Soja, E. W. (2008). Thirdspace: Toward a new consciousness of space and spatiality. In Communicating in the third space (pp. 63-75). Routledge.
Springgay, S., & Truman, S. E. (2017). Walking methodologies in a more-than-human world: WalkingLab. Routledge.
Sugiarto, E., Halim, A., Syarif, M. I., Nashiroh, P. K., & Febriani, M. (2023). Between Aesthetics and Functions: Use of Traditional Batik Motifs in Urban Interiors in Indonesia. ISVS E-Journal, 10(7), 62-76.
Taşbaşı, K. (2023). Kültür Yoluyla Kentin Pazarlanması Örneği Olarak Beyoğlu Kültür Yolu Festivali. Global Media Journal: Turkish Edition, 13(26).
Tekeli, İ. (2010). The story of Istanbul's modernisation. Architectural Design, 80(1), 32-39.
Tekin, İ., & Akgün Gültekin, A. (2017). Rebuilding of Beyoğlu-Istiklal Street: A comparative analysis of urban transformation through sections along the Street 2004-2014.
Thibaud, J. P. (2011). The three dynamics of urban ambiances. Sites of sound: Of architecture and the ear, 43-53.
Thrift, N. (2004). Movement-space: The changing domain of thinking resulting from the development of new kinds of spatial awareness. Economy and society, 33(4), 582-604.
Trejo, G. A. (2011). Memorable Experiences in Architecture: Understanding How Buildings Affect People Emotionally (Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield, School of Architecture).
Tuan, Y. F. (1975). Place: an experiential perspective. Geographical review, 151-165.
Tuan, Y. F. (1997). Sense of place: what does it mean to be human?. American journal of theology & philosophy, 47-58.
Türkün, A. (2022). Beyoğlu Bölgesinin Büyük Altyapı Projeleri ve Öncü (Flagship) Projelerle İmtihanı. Hertalan EU Strips, 16.
Türkün, A., Sarıoğlu, A., Çarıkçı, Ç., Çetin, R., İbişoğlu, Ç., Kırpık, E., & Uzgören, G. (2022). Beyoğlu’nda Dönüşüm ve Tektipleşme. İPA İstanbul Kent Araştırmaları ve Düşünce Dergisi. Sayı, 4, 88-93.
Uluengin, D. M., & Turgut, H. (2018). Colliding urban transformation process: the case of historical peninsula, Istanbul. Archnet-IJAR International Journal Of Architectural Research.
Woodall, G. C. (2008). Sensing the city: Sound, movement, and the night in 1920s Istanbul (Doctoral dissertation, New York University).
Wunderlich, F. (2008). Walking and rhythmicity: Sensing urban space. Journal of urban design, 13(1), 125-139.
Yaneva, A. (2009). The making of a building: A pragmatist approach to architecture. Peter Lang.
Yetiskul, E., Kayasü, S., & Ozdemir, S. Y. (2016). Local responses to urban redevelopment projects: The case of Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Habitat international, 51, 159-167.
Yucesoy, E. (2008). Contested public spaces vs. conquered public places, Gentrification and its reflections on urban public space in Istanbul. Public Istanbul, 29-48.
Yue, R., Lindborg, P., Ikeshiro, R., & Gui, R. (2024). Multimodal Hong Kong: Perceiving pedestrian footbridge spaces in a high-density area through sensewalking.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Authors retain copyright and transfer to the journal the right of first publication and publishing rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Those authors who publish in this journal accept the following terms:
-
Authors retain copyright.
-
Authors transfer to the journal the right of first publication. The journal also owns the publishing rights.
-
All published contents are governed by an Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Access the informative version and legal text of the license. By virtue of this, third parties are allowed to use what is published as long as they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this journal. If you transform the material, you may not distribute the modified work. -
Authors may make other independent and additional contractual arrangements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., inclusion in an institutional repository or publication in a book) as long as they clearly indicate that the work was first published in this journal.
- Authors are allowed and recommended to publish their work on the Internet (for example on institutional and personal websites), following the publication of, and referencing the journal, as this could lead to constructive exchanges and a more extensive and quick circulation of published works (see The Effect of Open Access).
