A Railway as Urban Space: The Sincan – Kayaş Commuter Line

Abstract

Urban transportation networks have typically been discussed within the fields of engineering and transportation planning, without being conceptualized in the context of the urban landscape which both defines and limits them. From the 1990s onwards, the “infrastructural urbanism” and “landscape urbanism” approaches redefined transportation infrastructures as urban potentialities rather than technical necessities, highlighting their hidden spatiality. In this context, Ankara’s Sincan–Kayaş commuter line, which defines a 37 kilometer-long route within partially-dense urban tissue, is a critical case to contemplate. The line, which was mostly part of the rural landscape in the period when commuter services started, transformed its landscape over time, and has become a principle catalyst in the development of new lands, industrial areas and neighborhoods. The transformation of the lands along the railway line has also altered the line’s relationship to the city. Today, it delineates a seemingly independent route through the areas which it has fosteres, casually producing leftover undefined spaces along its course. This condition, which may be considered problematic in its current form, also presents us with hints of its potential spatiality. The evaluation of the spatiality the line accommodates should be considered as an introductory phase for the re-establishment of an integrated railway within the city’s urban tissue and landscape. Multi-scale interface spaces produced by the co-existence of the railway with the urban tissue it spans, and the forgotten or disregarded relationship between the railway and natural elements like green spaces and water courses along its route are distinctive topics which will be be discussed in the scope of the Sincan–Kayaş commuter line.

Keywords

• Railways
• Urban railway
• Sincan-Kayaş Commuter Line
• Infrastructural urbanism
• Landscapeinfrastructure
• Urban landscape
• Ankara