Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...

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Figure 1: The location of Ulus in Ankara (left) (map modified from the map in ABB, 2007) and the location of the
HBA in the inner city (right) (map produced from a map retrieved from the Google Earth, February 2009)
but integrated spaces for religious and daily activities.
Despite the recent renovation works, the plaza and the
surrounding public domain have deteriorated and turned
into dilapidated site (Figure 2).
The HBA, with its rich historical and cultural assets, performs
various roles. With the minibus stations located to
the south-east and to the south-west of the Haci Bayram
Mosque plaza, the area operates as a vital transportation
node. As a sacred place for centuries, it is a lively
social environment where various locals come together
for worship, funerals, and social interaction. The site,
located on layers of ruins as old as the Roman period,
also attracts many national and international visitors, and
acts as a stage for rich socio-cultural interaction. Similarly,
the HBA performs rich symbolic roles. Accommodating
an Ottoman mosque leaning on a Roman temple, and a
nearby tomb, the site represents devotion, immateriality
and faith. Both the Mosque and the Temple face the
Ankara Castle, the symbol of resistance, survival and
earthliness (_ahin et al. 1998). The HBA, also containing
the Government Square, and the buildings from the
early 1930s and 1940s, symbolises the achievement of
the newly built Turkish Republic regarding civil liberty.
Further, as a public space, comprising some major
landmarks of the city, such as the Mosque, the Temple,
the pillar of Julian, the monumental buildings from the
early Republican period, and performing as a historical,
religious and cultural centre of the city, the HBA is one of
the elements that shaped the identity of Ankara (Figure
2). Artisan workshops located especially on the southern
and western edge of the Haci Bayram Square, and shops
selling religious books, rosary perfums and oils give economic
vitality to the area.
In spite of the social, symbolic and economic functions
which operate well to some extent, it could be said that
the public spaces in the HBA reflect inadequency in
performing some of their physical roles. The HBA is an
introverted place with predominantly hidden, isolated, neglected
and unsafe public spaces (Figure 2). The users
of the site suffered from the high crime rate, traffic congestion,
conflict between pedestrian and vehicular traffic,
and from the fact that the public spaces are chaotic,
unorganised and physically deteriorated with poor street
and traffic signs, inadequate infrastructure and appropriate
services. All these factors diminish the public spaces’
economic role, as they can neither make a significant
contribution to increase the land values of their environs,
nor attract investors, developers, or potential occupiers
Figure 2: The Mosque and the Temple (left), neglected public spaces (middle left), the historical houses (middle right), and the shops in the
HBA (Photos: M. Akkar Ercan)
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