Fifteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

A city is a multi-layered, entangled entity woven by its inhabitants’ daily activities; it is not static; on the contrary, it is constantly transforming in relation to culture, community, and intangible conditions. Examining third places embedded within a neighborhood-scale network holds creative potential for interpreting this complex structure through a minor narrative and for understanding the city’s larger-scale relationships. This paper explores a third place that is intrinsically integrated into everyday urban life—an ordinary café in Istanbul—through this perspective and to position this research at the intersection of architecture and anthropology. This café silently and implicitly contains narratives of migration, women, and minorities—stories that are not apparent from the outside but can be discovered upon engagement. These narratives emerged through observations and interviews conducted in the field and were externalized through mappings composed of texts, drawings, and photographs. Mapping studies were developed by layering multiple participatory visits and observations to the place, as well as open-ended interviews with actors who interacted with the place at different scales. The method outlined in this paper offers an approach for uncovering diverse spatial practices and the embedded knowledge within urban life, and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of socio-spatial dynamics beyond conventional architectural and urban research. Rather than generating fixed or absolute knowledge, this research proposes a flexible and adaptive methodology that can be refined and applied across different urban contexts, fostering a more dynamic and inclusive framework for future urban studies.