Emerging Towers in Bayraklı: Sustainability as a Branding Strategy or a Tool for Local Development?

Abstract

Sustainability and eco-friendly towers have been among the most discussed topics of contemporary high-rise building design. High-rise buildings have been an important part of the modern economy with their concentration of human capital and branding value for the urban context. In addition, during the recent years, to address the problems of sprawl, environmental, and ecological concerns, sustainable high-rise building design has gained further significance and visibility in architecture and planning literature. In existing literature, sustainability of high-rises is defined mainly through ecological design and green architecture principles in individual building scale. However, sustainability in the case of high-rises remains an ill-defined term, as there is neglect of further long term effects of these buildings on the social, cultural, economic, and resiliency contexts of cities. When not integrated with the broader urban context, sustainability falls into the gap to be perceived as "greenwash", which stands for a superficially-employed concept used as a fashionable branding strategy. Within this general framework, this study will examine the emerging towers in Bayraklı, İzmir, which is designated by the local government as a high-rise development zone. The study will focus on high-rise buildings (completed and under construction) in relation to the perception of sustainability and question whether or not sustainability is used as a greenwash branding strategy or a contextual element that is well-embedded in architectural design process and urban planning decisions. The method of research will be a descriptive case study through semi-structured interviews with the design team and real estate professionals of the buildings, as well as media analysis and consideration of the local municipality reports OPEN ACCESSBuildings 2015, 5 835 about Bayraklı. The results indicate that sustainability has become a principle embraced and advertised in the building scale as an environmental concern more than it is embraced in the urban and social context.

Living In Purgatory: Homelessness Amidst Urban Regeneration In Salhane, İzmir

“…As on-site observations and interviews with the residents revealed, all parties have witnessed the negative effects of profit based mechanisms of urban transformation with lack of sufficient collaboration between contractors, local authorities and users. As Öner and Pasin (2015) have pointed out, social sustainability is an often overlooked aspect of the recent transformations in Bayraklı. planning decisions beyond their control, the Tower residents and the slum dwellers are clearly positioned differently in relation to the effects of the socio-cultural transformation of the area.…”

“…Besides providing a glittery facade to the city, the urban regeneration of Salhane brings forth new urban problems. Öner and Pasin (2015) aptly emphasize emerging issues of social and environmental sustainability in the area, pointing to the lack of collaboration between local authorities and contractors of the emerging high-rise blocks. They also state that issues of sustainability in the area need to be addressed both at the building scale and in relation to the larger urban context.…”

Developing a measurement scale for sustainable high-rise building in city of Erbil

“…There are major development patterns of sustainable architecture in high-rises and urban design in high-rise building districts. Only when the built environment around us is sustainable does sustainable architecture make sense (Gissen, 2003;Öner and Pasin, 2015). Furthermore, tall buildings are no longer perceived as isolationist structures.…”

Place management of a creative city: the case of Izmir

“…Considering urban quality of life in Izmir, respondents gave great importance to well-design living and working environments alongside first-class ICT and transport infrastructure, which highlights the need for world-class facilities in knowledge-based innovative cities, i.e., quality is more important than quantity. These answers are already reflected in the built environment with Bayrakli area being developed as a new centre with high-rise, high-density mixed-use Class A office and residential spaces, as well as with the implementation of Izmir Coastal Renovation Project, which concerns integrating coastal line area through high quality open spaces and amenities (Öner and Pasin, 2015).…”