Among the various definitions of nature today, concepts referring to geology and wildlife are the most common. In order to explain the transformational phases the wilderness in human terms, today scholars discuss four types of definitions. First Nature designates the world before the human – pristine ecosystems. Second Nature represents rural cultural landscapes evolving from the transformation of pristine landscapes by human activity such as agricultural use. Third Nature refers to gardens and parks that have been created and are maintained by humans. They are created deliberately. Lastly, Fourth Nature emerges spontaneously as a novel urban green space on urban voids, reconquering unused terrain or other post-industrial sites, without erasing the traces of human culture.
The existing landscape of Bandırma Park is considered as Fourth Nature for two reasons. First of all, the landscape that emerged spontaneously after the military abandonment corresponds to this definition. The second reason concerns Bandırma’s future growth. The plans for harbor removal mean that large tracts of land will be transformed. We propose to create a landscape infrastructure network, which Bandırma currently lacks, on leftover sites and voids. City transportation system decisions, such as the new transfer center in the south and the new tramline, help the green infrastructure to connect the southern and eastern parts of the city with the western part, where the Design Park is located.
The urban scale decisions we propose are shaped by the principle that the Design Institute becomes an active player. The future growth of Bandırma is projected in four phases. The urban strategies include the new programs to be implemented after the removal of the harbor, a new transfer center in the south-east, a new tramline connecting the central city and the new urban areas towards the Design Park, and green space placed along the leftover railway lines after the relocation of the train station.
