FACTORS MAKING A STREET A VIBRANT PLACE: COMPARING STREET USERS’ VIBRANCY PERCEPTION BETWEEN MAIN STREET, FORT WORTH, TEXAS, USA AND INONU BOULEVARD, SIVAS, TURKEY

Streets are one of the most vital parts of cities not only because they serve urban transportation, but also because they are critical elements of the public realm that people use to go to meet daily needs and interact with others. However, modernist urban planning has often ignored the role of streets as a public space and as starting point for public life because of the increasing number of vehicles on roads, rapid urbanization (urban sprawl) and growing demand for the single family home and the gated community concept. In the last few decades, urban planning has recognized that urban streets have a significant function for keeping a city livable and vibrant. This thesis focuses on the question of what makes a street a vibrant public place, and aims to analyze differences and similarities in users’ perception of street vibrancy between two case study streets, one in the U.S. and the other in Turkey. To examine the initial research statement, two active street locations—Main Street, Fort Worth, Texas, and Inonu Boulevard, Sivas,—were selected as case study areas. The case study work uses pedestrian counts and qualitative on-street research and finds cultural differences and similarities in street vibrancy perceptions between American and Turkish street users as well as in then physical factors promoting street pedestrian activity and a vibrant public life. The thesis finds support for its claim that street design is a necessary but not sufficient factor affecting pedestrian activities, and that local activities and destinations for meeting daily needs play a stronger role in generating a desirable street life. However, in the American case, design factors do play a stronger role than in the Turkish case, while in the Turkish case, the diversity of local activities and destinations serving the daily needs of individuals and the community, is more meaningful.