Symbolic Values of the Modern Republican Urban Landscape in Ankara: A Critical Overview on Ankara Central Railway Station


Uludağ Z.

European Journal for Semiotic Studies, Institute for Semiotic Studies ISSS, cilt.15, sa.1, ss.133-144, 2003 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

SYMBOLIC VALUES OF THE MODERN REPUBLICAN URBAN LANDSCAPE IN ANKARA: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW ON ANKARA CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION

  ABSTRACT

 If we conceptualize the city as a system of signs and symbols, the “text” can not be conceptualized without reference to spatial and social processes at the same time. Therefore, the conceptual framework and the language chosen in which space takes on meaning is important for understanding the city. So, there is a need for an adequate analytic framework for coping with the complex problems at the interface between social and spatial analysis. In that sense, interpretation of an urban landscape as a “text” depends on the conceptual framework and reference system chosen in the universe of meanings. Thus, a landscape reading is decoded in an endless process of communication within its social and spatial relationships. This research concentrates on the reading of the modern urban landscape of the capital city Ankara as a “text” within its social and spatial context, emphasizing the changing meanings within this relation system.