Ph.D. Tezi Görüntüleme

Student:	Sema MUMCU
Supervisor:	Prof. Dr. Ali ÖZBİLEN
Department:	Peyzaj Mimarlığı
Institution:	Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences
University:	Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey

Title of the Thesis:	Behavior Settings in Open Spaces: Alyzing the Variations in Sitting Behavior
Level:	Ph.D.
Acceptance Date:	25/3/2009
Number of Pages:	238
Registration Number:	Di677

Summary:

The activities taking place in urban open spaces have an important role on formation of socialization and sense of being community. About this subject by various researches it has been determined that stationary activities like sitting, waiting, leaning support other activities which lead socialization such as chatting, watching others. Especially sitting behavior was mentioned as an important factor for successful functioning of an urban open space. However, researches on design of settings in which sitting and attendant activities take place are deficient. With the question of how to design more successful spaces for sitting activity this study aims to analyze the formation of sitting and attendant activities in the context of space-behavior relationship.

With adopting the ecological approach, which posits observing human behavior in their everyday environment instead of laboratories, behavior setting theory, affordances theory, and prospect-refuge theory were used and a research model were established. By means of this model the affordances of a behavior setting in which sitting and attendant behaviors take place were defined in light of landscape preference studies. The relationship between these concepts and the variations in sitting activity were investigated in this study.

This research is a behavior setting survey which consists of four phases. Kanuni Park which is in the centre of Trabzon was chosen as the study area. At the end it was found out that the prospect-refuge affordances, which were determined by means of research model, affects and directs the formation of activities take place in behavior settings. Especially the settings with strong prospect affordances were found to be more preferred and rich in behavior patterns. Also it was found out that prospect-refuge affordances were evaluated in different ways by different genders and groups.

Key Words: Behavior Setting Theory, Affordances, Prospect-Refuge Theory, Sitting Behavior