Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Civil Engineering and Architecture, cilt.13, sa.4, ss.3394-3411, 2025 (Scopus)
The Early Republic indicates the initial steps in planning practice in Turkey and witnesses the expansion and development of the railroad network in Anatolia. This article aims to investigate the interaction between the planning practices and the evolution of the railroad network during Turkey's Early Republic era from the perspective of Herman Jansen's 1932 Ankara Plan. Thus, the current study assesses how Jansen incorporated the railroad into his plan and how he envisioned the relationship between the railroad and the city. However, the claim that urban plans served merely as technical instruments at the bureaucracy's disposal was mainly included in the discussion. For that reason, besides considering the relationship of Jansen’s plan with the railway, this article also interrogates to what extent the planner impacted urban planning through the railway and how much nation-state policies influenced this effect. Methodologically, the article reviews documents like industrial plans and competition specifications to grasp the bureaucratic perspective on the association between planning and the railroad. Concurrently, a methodical analysis is conducted through pertinent texts and planning reports to understand Jansen's planning philosophy. The findings suggest that the spatial decisions of the nationstate more influenced Jansen's planning methodology than the city's railway potential. Thus, in the Ankara Plan, the railroad emerges as a design facet that manifests the national railway policy. In Jansen's vision, the interconnection between the city and the railroad was pinpointed mainly, emphasizing the station and its immediate vicinity. The article concludes that in Jansen's Ankara Plan, the railroad's role in urban planning was largely sculpted under the overarching influence of the state's railway policy.