Bursa Çekirge Square and Surroundings

Çekirge neighborhood, one of the oldest historical sites of Bursa, is under a heavy traffic burden. Our project has two main objectives. The first is to create a pedestrian-dominated transportation system. We have determined that the main source of the traffic chaos and burden in Çekirge Square is not private vehicle traffic, as it is believed, but public transportation lines. Almost all of the routes from Uludağ University to Kaplıkaya, from Santral Garaj to Mudanya pass through this point. In order to remove the bus load, we propose rail system lines and changes in existing bus routes. Only in this way can the square be relieved with systemic solutions.

In the field of design, we are developing the “QUIET TRAFFIC” concept. We reduce the number of vehicles entering Çekirge Square by playing with road sections. The aim should not be to remove traffic from Çekirge Square, but to reduce the attractiveness of this area for vehicles. To this end, we propose the idea of a “COMMON STREET”.

A shared street describes a situation where pedestrians and vehicles coexist. Combining policies that make the square unattractive for the vehicle with design policies that enable the pedestrian to take ownership of the square will naturally lead to the shared use of the street. Structural landscaping of the ground level will be used as a tool to create this new type of street. However, landscaping the ground level is not enough for this new type of street to survive. In order for the pedestrian to dominate the vehicle and make more use of the ground space in the shared street, it is necessary to enrich the public open spaces and diversify the functions in relation to the ground. Likewise, formal arrangements for street-facing facades need to be developed. This will be done through urban design guidelines.

Location: Çekirge, Bursa

Assignment: active mobility, sustainable urban mobility, traffic calming, urban design, public spaces

Size: 5.000 M²

Year: 2017

Status: competition

Client: Osmangazi Municipality