Rome is highly designated city. It is capital of many innovations. Therefore, we can see different ways of urbanization. First of all, I would like to talk about the important squares in Rome.
Piazza Farnese: It was one of the most important places. We can clearly see the influence of Roman culture. The Palazzo Farnese Roman Palace is located there, and it has an important historical value. The two fountains it contains add a different atmosphere to the square.
Piazza Navona: It was once home to the city market. It is a square where many activities have been held throughout history. We can also see many statues in the square. The very famous statue of Neptune is also located here.
Piazzo Del Popolo: It means “People’s Square”. It hosts different events such as concerts. There are three churches around it and the Leonardo Da Vinci museum is also located in this square. Being close to many touristic places makes this square more popular.
Piazza Di Spagna: Thanks to the representatives of the Spanish and French governments, this place became a commercial center. It is connected to an important church thanks to the Spanish steps. People come across a beautiful view when they climb these stairs.
Piazza Sa Pietro: Unlike other squares, here the pope gives a speech to Catholics and members of other sects. Therefore, we can say that this place is mostly used for religious ceremonies when we compare it with other squares.
Compo De Fiori: We talked more about this square in this presentation. It stretches along a street, and its surroundings are not dominated by large buildings. However, here we can talk about some hygiene problems. Also, this is a market place mostly used for daily shopping.
Also, in this talk we looked at not only the planning of the city but also the activities in these planned areas. We also focused on questions such as what activities do these designed areas provide for me, what is their harmony with the environment, how is it related to the rest of the city, would the square lose its effect if the buildings around it were higher. First of all I want to emphasize the interventions of Pope eugenius ıv and Sixtus ıv. The pope was living in rome at that time, but Rome had poor quality. During this period, which coincided with the beginning of the renaissance, the pope began urban renewal. The Aqua Vegine and the new fountain on Compo de'Fiori is second object that I want to talk. Lower part of Rome was destroyed, and Solutions were sought to bring the water into the city. The canal and the fountain was built. The fountain was first low, on the ground. Therefore, it was removed. Although the fountain is functional, it has a very beautiful aesthetic as it was designed by architects. When we look at the end of the 19th century, it appears as a new market area. It is in the center of the city and we can see an organized market area. we should not forget that there are important monuments. Finally, I would like to examine the current situation since the beginning of the 20th century. With the invention of cars, there were also differences in planning. The roads are widened, the lights stay the same, but the whole square can only be used by pedestrians. Cars are not allowed to pass. In this section, I have examined the change that the square has undergone in terms of planning. Now I would like to focus on the role of daily activities in this square.
When I consider the everyday activities, I encounter markets, shops, taverns, inns, and carnival. We can also observe that the activities changed over time. This square, which used to be used for daily shopping, now mostly sells products for tourists and only fresh vegetables as food. We can’t call this place a supermarket anymore. We encounter some factors that limit the activities. Some of these are smell and sound. I would like to point out that especially when horses were used too much, hygiene was not provided too much. Thanks to this presentation, for the first time, I thought about the effect of planning cities in ensuring hygiene. Do form relations have a role in maintaining hygiene? So how does the open area of markets affected hygiene? How has the pandemic affected daily life? Is having such big squares an advantage or a disadvantage in this process?
Pierre Nora is one of the important people I want to talk about.There has been a lot of work on French identity and memory. Here we actually focused on the concept of Les lieux de memorie. He defined this concept as the desire to remember more and he suggested that it depends on the social group. Therefore, it is not fixed but it is variable. This explanation actually made me ask the following question. How does culture affect cities? As mentioned here, it can be interpreted by different social communities. Since each culture has a different memory, we can find clues about the culture and memory of that community in their cities. Public execution is an example for that. When we look at the case of Giordano Bruno, many friars, scientists, philosophers burnt at the stake. Students, freethinkers, nationalists began to be collected in the late 19th century and made Bruno their symbol. In 1876 a statue was erected, in 1885 international appeal for funds was established. This event is actually an example that points out to us that the events that happened in the square merged with it and that the place was engraved in their memory.
MY SKETCHES:
How do you elaborate the theoritical discussion and how can you explain for the case of Turkish cities?
I can elaborate this discussion under three main headings. The first is the city plan, the second is the daily life, and the third is the lieu de memoire. When we look at the city planning, Rome has hosted a lot of development and change because it is one of the cultural, commercial and historical center. Especially the squares, where people can gather more comfortably and organize activities together, have very important roles in city life. At this point, I should point out that these designed areas must be functional and usable. It also depends on many factors. The height of the buildings around it (if it is too high we feel like in the middle of nowhere), its relation to the rest of the city (is it close to the main roads, distance from the city center, is it accessible to everyone) are some factors. It is very important to take them into account because as we see examples today, if these factors are not taken into account in the construction of large gathering areas, it will be very difficult to change them later. When we look at our daily activities, I can say that the roads we use, the borders we hesitate to go further, the areas where we spend most of our time depend on our daily lifestyle. Our social life, the work we do to make a living, and the products we produce also guide the way the city will be planned. The presence of the sea in a city leads the people of that city to fishing and boating, or the presence of an agricultural settlement causes those people to want to be close to their lands, and the settlements are made considering these needs. The memory of the city actually comes into play at this point. The events experienced are engraved on the city’s roads and walls, each community interprets the city differently.When I look at the cities in Turkey, I can say that there are places with similar characteristics to Compo De Fiori. Kızılay Square, Taksim Square, and Kordon are places where people gather and they host various activities. These places are also easily accessible by everyone like Compo De Fiori. The grand bazaar, Ulus bazaar are similar to the square I mentioned because they are commercial centers and provide the opportunity to shop.
Reference:
https://life-globe.com/en/europe-countries/italy/rome/palazzo-farnese-in-farnese-square-rome-italy/
interbustur.com/popolo-meydani/
https://www.rome.net/piazza-di-spagna
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aziz_Petrus_Meydan%C4%B1
The photos I used are taken from Nele De Raedt's presentation.
ELİF MİT 