Re-naturing the City through Under-Viaduct Landscape: Linking the Nature with Cultural History

Re-naturing the city through inserting under-viaduct landscapes into the vast urban realm of Bornova district is considered an immensely central issue that this project deals with, and thus attributes an exceptional mode of urban design thinking. Meanwhile, a series of public spaces different in sight and content would potentially have distinctly described ‘nature-urban transect’ of Bornova Region (Izmir).

The project has been commissioned to associate some fragmented, somewhat left-over or neglected natural, historical and cultural foci, through some well-defined public realms alongside under-viaduct landscapes (approximately 3 km in length) that extends between Homeros Valley (regional landscape) and Bornova plain (incl. historically significant Yeşilova Tumulus). The landscapes have been aligned in 3 sub-headings: eco-community/ecological society, commercial hub and civic commons. The project basically seeks to employ some green infrastructure practices such as nature-based solutions, rainwater harvesting and pervious ground while reversing common function of the viaduct as the highway infrastructure into linking once-isolated east and west urban tissues. And thus transportation system involved transit-oriented development alongside or towards the viaduct to encouraging mobility as well as uninterrupted community and bicycle use. Community life has been highlighted by cutting-edge agricultural practices and productive landscapes that serve to increase social cohesion and mutual support among urban dwellers. Based on the suggested activities, use of public realms is interchangeable and adaptive in day and night. For instance; the suggested amphitheater could turn into an urban shelter for homeless people at night, a commercial center or an open-air cinema theater.