Friendly Cities For All

Aim of the Workshop

In the 21st century, environmental conditions, ecological balances, democratic, egalitarian and sustainable social benefits and design are discussed under the general heading of urban livability. The backbone of these discussions today is evolving around the phenomenon of “universal design”. Universal design is the design of products and environments that can be used by all people. What distinguishes universal design from other design terminologies is that it “focuses on the social structure as well as the physical” and that it is “a design that integrates a product with a building or a city and aims to make it usable by all”. In the concept of universal design, it is not only people with disabilities, but all people are simply “everyone”.

According to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” published by the United Nations (UN-Habitat) in 1949 with the number 7217; everyone is equal without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, and shall enjoy all rights and freedoms.

The joint effort of the United Nations and all other international organizations (UNICEF, World Health Organization WHO, etc.) is the planning and management of “Safe and Friendly Cities for All”.

Based on these main reasons, the “Friendly Cities for All” workshop aims to discuss the common fiction of being a friendly city, especially at the level of local governments. In this context, in the proposed subtopics, the general title of everyone will be evaluated under the sub-identities of disadvantaged groups “women, children, disabled, elderly and pedestrians” and elaborated with presentations.

Objectives

Within the framework of the workshop, the sub-objectives that will serve the overall objective are defined as follows;

To draw attention to the main concept of “Friendly Cities for All” and to emphasize a main goal for the future of cities,

To introduce and promote the concept of Design for All with different definitions,

To discuss disadvantaged groups in terms of “women, children, elderly, disabled” and to draw attention to their basic rights,

To evaluate the street and its use, which is the most important public space for an accessible city, specifically for these groups and to develop recommendations,

To publish the results of the research as a book and as a guideline for local governments under the title “Friendly Cities”.

Significance and Rationale

This workshop plans to bring together the evaluations and proposals made so far on “child-friendly cities”, “women-friendly cities”, “disabled-friendly cities”, “elderly-friendly cities”, “pedestrian-friendly cities” under the umbrella of “everyone”, and to draw attention to the need and importance of integration rather than segregation and the need to serve all disadvantaged groups in the future of cities.

Target Audience

Politicians in local government,
Bureaucrats and technocrats in local and central government,
Academics and researchers working in the field,
NGOs working in the field of social responsibility,
Public institutions, organizations, press and media organs and NGOs working on the city are the target audience of this workshop.

Method / Technique

This workshop will be conducted in two different ways. These are workshop meetings and desk work. The first one is the evaluation meetings among the workshop group where both the desk studies are evaluated and the names in the field share their expertise. The second one is the research workshop/workshops to be carried out in the field within the framework of Esenler Municipality, which will be carried out with the suggestions of the workshop group before the workshop program.

Implementation Steps

Workshop Meetings

A total of four evaluation meetings are planned during the workshop. The first three of these meetings will determine the content, methodology, scope and limitations of the products that will emerge from the workshop. In addition, the work to be prepared by each of the participants will also be decided in these workshops.

Desk Work

Workshop participants will prepare the tasks identified in the evaluation meetings and those that fall to them, either through existing resources or by conducting fieldwork.

Presentation to Municipal Authorities

The draft work of the workshop is presented to the municipal authorities and their opinions are taken, and the work is revised and finalized in accordance with their expectations.

Publishing the Workshop

After the workshop is completed, it will be published as a book.

Attendees

People Areas Jobs

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hatice AYATAC ITU Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Coordinator “Friendly Cities for All”

Zeynep Pinar GENC ITU Faculty of Architecture (PhD Student) Workshop Assistant “Responsible for Workshops”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. A. Nilay EVCIL Istanbul Beykent University Workshop Participant “Accessible Friendly Cities”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yasemin CAKIRER OZSERVET Marmara University Workshop Participant “Child Friendly Cities”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kevser USTUNDAG Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Workshop Participant “Pedestrian Friendly Cities “

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cemile TIFTIK Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture Workshop Participant “Women Friendly Cities”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nilgun COLPAN ERKAN YTU, Department of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Participant “Elderly Friendly Cities”

Expectations from Workshop Participants

Participants in this workshop are expected to perform at least the following activities;

Attend all meetings held during the workshop (minimum 2, maximum 4),

Write their reports/articles/chapters as a result of their research,

Read the texts of other workshop participants and share their evaluations with the appropriate person.

Timing / Timetable

Task Date Description

Introductions and 1st workshop meeting March 2015 In this meeting, workshop members will meet each other and discuss the content of the workshop.

2nd workshop meeting April 2015 Update and evaluation of the topics. The scope of the workshop will be discussed.

3rd Workshop Meeting May 2015 The content of the publication “Friendly Cities for All”, which will be prepared by a presentation to the local authorities, and the organization of the workshop will be discussed.

4th Workshop Meeting June 2015 The text will be prepared and sent to the workshop leader and assistant.

July- August 2015 Printing of the book and presentation of the workshop presentation format

September 2015 Workshop and presentation

Budget

Budget Line Items Number of People Unit Wage Working Hours

Workshop coordinator 1 9 months

Workshop Participant 5 6 months

Workshop Assistant 1 6 months

Workshop Assistant – Student 2 or 4 3 months

Dissemination of Workshop Results

The following activities are planned for the dissemination of the workshop results:
Sharing the publication(s) to be prepared at the end of the workshop and the results of the workshop with the authorities of Esenler Municipality,
Sharing the publication(s) to be prepared at the end of the workshop with university libraries,
Sharing the results of the workshop in written and visual media as a basis for possible future symposiums or meetings.

http://www.esenler.bel.tr/tr/icerik/32/3285/cocuk-dostu-esenler.aspx (Child Friendly Esenler)

2nd workshop

Children from the Perspective of Local Authorities Workshop

Esenler Through Children’s Eyes: I Photograph My Neighborhood Children’s Workshop

Friendly Cities for All Workshop Presentation Meeting