Pedestrian Focused Street Redesign in Istanbul

Location Istanbul, Turkey
Year 2021-2022
Client N/A
Job description Urban design analytics, design development
Collaborators Super Eight, Plan4Better
Function Street design

Istanbul, being the most crowded city in Turkey with a large car-dependant commute system, most of the time overlooks the pedestrian-friendliness aspect of the streets. This project aimed at redesigning the existing street typologies to focus on pedestrian comfort rather than prioritising vehicles, in 6 selected areas with different transportation and functional use characteristics.

We analysed the current use, load and pain points of each of the areas using on-site observations, questionnaires, pedestrian and vehicle counts as well as using big geospatial data from several sources. We then created street typologies based on similar use and problems and developed alternative design options for each of these typologies.

A typical analysis set for each site. 1. Routes and nodes of public transportation, weighted against their capacities, 2. Existing pedestrian infrastructure, 3. Population heatmap: Offices, 4. Population heatmap: Residential, 5. Population heatmap: Attractions, 6. Simulated pedestrian volumes based on the previous maps, 7. Street slopes, 8. Maximum allowed car speed, 9. Street widths, 10. Parking conditions, 11-13. Congestion at different times of day, 14. Land ownership, 15. Cafes and restaurants 16. The retail locations focusing on one specific sector (Textiles, taken from the trade association’s database), 17. Problems and opportunities, 18. Street typologies

1. The current street sections and intersection, 2. Proposed alternative with elevated and accentuated pedestrian areas and traffic-calming strategies

Proposal for one-lane streets with high pedestrian flow. Shared streets during the day, with 20 km/h speed limit and free logistic vehicle access between 10pm-06am.

Design guidelines for the above transformation.