The Role and Effect of Culture Cultivation (Culturevation) in the Relationship between Urbanism and Publicness

Bengü, Devran (Arel Author)In urbanism and architecture, the concepts of the public sphere, publicness, and public space have been used either as separate domains or as substitutes. However in a democratic society, these 3 concepts actually constitute a holistic whole. This point of view can only be advanced in an atmosphere of productivity that is not only non-consumerist, but which also differs from the contemporary capitalist production environment. When the art of theater is examined in relation to the development of publicness, it is possible to find spaces that may be tools of this different productivity that vitalizes the public sphere. There is quite a strong philosophical and historical connection between the development of publicness and the art of theater. In this article, the argument that theater is an influential tool in the relationship between urbanism and publicness is supported by the findings of field surveys conducted in the historic city center of the Kadikoy district of Istanbul. The findings suggest that the productivity of the rapidly increasing and accepted "alternative stages" of new generation theater spaces have characteristics that are different from the contemporary capitalist system. This productivity, which is visible in the environment of the new generation theater spaces nourishes publicness. This form of productivity that has emerged in the environment of the alternative stages observed in the field research is termed "culture cultivation" or "culturevation." This article provides a definition of culturevation and a discussion of the effective dynamics in the context of culturevation using data obtained in the field. Attention is drawn to how the existing publicness of local administrative structures, where the entirety of the public cultural production dynamic can be addressed, can be evaluated from a different perspective as sociocultural spaces that serve publicness

The Impact of Alternative Theater Stages on Public Spaces within the Context of Publicness in Kadikoy

This study defines a theoretical frame that associates the concept of the public sphere as a significant component of public life with the concept of public space based on the common ground of publicness. The concepts of 'publicness' and the 'public sphere', which are used in an explanatory manner for forming common life, also reach beyond this in their consideration of social life as a socialization environment. These issues were discussed based on different approaches. Considering a basic definition of the public sphere as a discussion environment, an argument is made that this discussion environment is supported by the production of ideas. Newly-formed theater environment might have a positive role to reinforce to publicness as previous studies shows. Considering that, the conceptual and spatial aspects of publicness, as presented in this field study concerning alternative stages in Kadikoy, Istanbul, were reviewed through four typologically different theater cases. This study evaluated alternative stages' interaction with the public space based on observations, spatial analysis and in-depth interviews with theater artists. It was observed that theater stages either directly or indirectly interact with public spaces. Besides, artists' perspectives can determine and impact both the spatial uses of theaters and social relationships with neighborhood residents. Holistically reviewing all relevant components within this context and using theaters as a case study, this article points out that theaters as sociocultural spaces are a feature in publicness on diverse layer of urban life