The Examination of Urban Furniture in Bülent Ecevit University Farabi Campus in Terms of Landscape Design

Abstract

Urban furniture are the elements with different qualities and quantities that define and complement places which ease the individual and social life of people within the urban texture, enables communication between individuals while providing a certain functional and aesthetic meanings to places. At the same time, they give visuality and identity to the city. In this regard, urban furniture are aesthetic elements that make the spaces usable, pleasant and comfortable at university campuses with a high user population thereby making positive contributions to social life. It is important that urban furniture positioned to meet the demands of individuals in campuses such as acquiring knowledge, circulation control, comfort, entertainment and safety are evaluated with regard to spatial comfort and planting design. In this scope, Bülent Ecevit University Farabi Campus located at the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey has been selected as the study area. Spatial characteristics, urban furniture elements and widely used plant species inside the Farabi Campus have been determined in this study by way of field studies. Face-to-face surveys were applied to the user group at the Bülent Ecevit University Farabi Campus comprised of academic staff, administrative staff, students and prive sector empleyees. Survey results were evaluated via SPSS Statistics 22.0 software. Frequency Analysis and Chi-Square Test were applied for determining the differences between users regarding urban furniture and plant use, their preferences as well as demands and tendencies. Important and statistically significant relationships were determined in relations and preferences between the urban furniture elements and the people who use them with regard to their education levels, professions, objectives for campus use, whether the urban furniture elements are well-kept or not and whether they are used in accordance with the campus identity or not in addition to determining the sufficiency of the campus with regard to landscape design. Positive-negative relationships between user-plant, user-urban furniture were determined as a result of the application. In conclusion, suggestions were developed for the landscape design of Bülent Ecevit University Farabi Campus.