LANDSCAPE STRATEGIES FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF ABANDONED AIRPORTS IN THE CONTEXT OF LANDSCAPE URBANISM: CASE STUDY OF ATATURK AIRPORT
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Authors: Diler Ciftci, Meltem Erdem Kaya
Keywords: airport landscape, Ataturk Airport, landscape urbanism, urban parks
Abstract: There are emerging discussions about two important airports when considering airport and landscape design in Istanbul, Turkey, recently. The opening of Istanbul Airport let to the transformation of the function of the Ataturk Airport to a “Public Garden”. Although this proposed green area stands out with the claim of the third largest park in the world, landscape design and planning proposals have not been explained in detail. With its dense and complex infrastructure, it becomes essential for a metropolitan city like Istanbul to produce design and planning principles for the area in the process of transformation into an urban park, so that it could contribute to the city in ecological, socio-cultural and economical aspects. In this context, referring on the theory of landscape urbanism, which synthesizes and manages natural and cultural processes ultimately in the transformation of urban areas, such as Atatürk Airport, into parks with ecological, sociological and economic functions based on contemporary design and planning principles is substantial, rather than analyzing them in a picturesque framework. The aim of this study is to present different principles that are prominent in the context of landscape urbanism by examining airport projects in different geographies of the world that were reconsidered as urban parks and to reveal the landscape based strategies that can be guided in the planning and design process in the metamorphosis of Ataturk Airport. This study aims to discuss airport transformation within the framework of landscape urbanism and to evaluate emerging principles aligned to the forthcoming design of the Ataturk Airport. The proposed strategies suggest alternatives that contribute to more ecological, sociological and economic approaches in the processes of transformation into new urban parks.