Thinking Of Urban Decoding Journal Latest Issue

After industrialization, the rapid population growth in cities led to an imbalance in housing supply and demand. As a result, low-income groups constructed their own houses on public lands, introducing the concept of “gecekondu” or squatters into the Turkish planning literature. These squatters, which evolved into socio-economically and spatially problematic urban zones, have become the focus of legal regulations and urban regeneration practices. Although urban regeneration aims to renew deteriorated urban fabric and address the housing needs of low-income groups, the urban form it produces often contradicts these objectives. Today, climate change, rapid urbanization, destruction of natural areas, and high-density, high-rise vertical development models contribute to heat absorption in cities, thereby triggering the formation of urban heat islands. This study is based on the assumption that the Saraycık Urban Regeneration Project has contributed to the formation of an urban heat island. Accordingly, it examines the impact of changing urban morphology on urban heat island formation before and after the regeneration by employing GIS-based remote sensing methods, including LST, NDVI, and NDBI analyses. The findings reveal that, as a result of urban regeneration projects, increased building density and impervious surfaces, the reduction of natural areas, and the proliferation of high-rise structures intensify the urban heat island effect. In the face of climate crises, improving urban quality of life requires that urban transformation be addressed not only in terms of its socio-economic and spatial impacts but also through its environmental dimensions, integrating climate-sensitive and sustainable approaches into project design.

This article aims to evaluate the effects of natural and mechanical ventilation systems on indoor air quality in office buildings, based on experimental measurements and user satisfaction data. The research was conducted at the Konya Selçuklu Municipality service building, which has a high user capacity, and four offices with different usage characteristics were selected as a sample. As part of the study, temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and PM₂.₅ concentrations were measured during the summer and winter periods, and indoor environmental data were compared with outdoor air quality. Furthermore, a satisfaction survey involving 33 employees was used to examine the relationship between physical environmental conditions and user health and comfort. The findings indicate that, during the winter period, temperatures exceeded the recommended comfort limits, whilst relative humidity fell below 30 per cent, creating dry indoor conditions. Depending on user density, CO₂ levels in some offices exceeded the 1,000 ppm limit, with the highest value measured at 1,835 ppm. It was determined that PM₂.₅ pollution from the outdoor environment was reflected indoors during the winter months, whilst particle levels decreased during the summer period thanks to mechanical filtration.

The digitalization of music production has shifted sound recording activities from large commercial facilities to smaller project studios, where limited room dimensions often cause acoustic problems such as standing waves, room modes, and low-frequency resonances that compromise neutral sound perception. This study evaluates the acoustic performance of the sound recording studio and control room at the Necmettin Erbakan University Faculty of Fine Arts and Architecture using objective acoustic criteria. The methodology integrates in-situ acoustic measurements, literature-based mathematical calculations, and three-dimensional room mode analyses performed with Amroc software. Results indicate that the recording studio exhibits relatively high reverberation times at low frequencies, decreasing toward higher frequencies, which may reduce musical clarity by masking high-frequency content. In the control room, reverberation times are relatively balanced across the frequency spectrum, except at 63 Hz, although they remain slightly above recommended values. Background noise levels in the recording studio range from 21.50 to 38.00 dBA, exceeding the NC 15–20 criteria generally recommended for professional recording environments. Room mode analysis reveals elevated axial mode energy; however, calculated Q-factor values remain below the perceptibility threshold of 16, indicating no significant audible acoustic coloration. The findings suggest that studio design in educational facilities should incorporate buffer zones between circulation spaces and recording areas, employ double-shell construction for effective sound isolation, optimize room proportions to minimize modal coincidence, and carefully select surface materials to achieve target reverberation times. Integrating computer-based acoustic simulations during the early design stage is recommended to enhance overall acoustic performance.

The housing market differs from other goods markets due to the heterogeneous, non-substitutable, and location-specific nature of housing, resulting in distinct submarkets. Although housing market–macroeconomic relationships have been widely examined, studies have largely focused on metropolitan areas, while medium-sized cities remain relatively understudied. This study examines the neighborhood-level differentiation of for-sale and rental housing markets in Siirt, a medium-sized city in Türkiye’s Southeastern Anatolia Region, during 2023–2026, relating these differences to spatial development dynamics. Descriptive statistics were applied to 450 housing listings collected from Sahibinden.com in February–March 2023 (315 for sale and 135 for rent), and findings were compared with 2021–2026 data from Endeksa. Results indicate that Siirt’s housing market is spatially heterogeneous. Veysel Karani exhibits high sale prices but low rental yields, suggesting a stronger investment orientation, whereas Kooperatif and Bahçelievler represent more mature, use-value-oriented submarkets. The findings demonstrate that transportation infrastructure and public investments shape urban growth and contribute to differentiated housing submarkets across established and newly developing neighborhoods.

This study examines children’s position in urban design through public space, the right to the city, spatial justice, and child participation. Modern urbanization and adult-centred planning position children not as active subjects of urban space, but as passive users needing protection and direction. This limits children’s relationship with streets, neighbourhoods, and public open spaces, weakening their participation, mobility, and visibility in urban life. The study theoretically analyses the child-city relationship. It is grounded in Habermas’s approach to public space, Lefebvre’s and Harvey’s discussions on the right to the city, Jacobs’s perspective on street life and public safety, and Hart’s Ladder of Participation. Children’s role in producing urban space is discussed through the child-friendly city approach, built environment education, and everyday spatial practices. The study emphasizes that a child-friendly city cannot be limited to playgrounds or safe facilities. Children’s right to the city concerns not only access to safe spaces, but also visibility in streets, neighbourhoods, public open spaces, and decision-making processes. Safety is evaluated not through controlled spaces separating children from the city, but through lively street life, natural surveillance, and everyday encounters. The study argues that children should be recognized as active subjects who experience and transform the city and whose views should inform design decisions. Child-friendly urban design should include physical interventions, participation mechanisms, everyday mobility, and built environment awareness. The study highlights the need for an inclusive urban design approach that strengthens children’s visibility and participation in public space while addressing spatial, administrative, and pedagogical dimensions together.