Setbaşı Urban Design
Status:
R&D
Year:
2025
Type:
Urban Design
Size:
12050 m²
Client:
Bursa Yildirim Municipality
Location:
Setbaşı, Bursa, Turkey
The Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Historical Axis constitutes one of Bursa’s most intricate palimpsests, where hydrological systems, sacred geographies, and vernacular urban morphologies interweave to produce a rare syncretic landscape. The project approaches this axis not as a linear heritage corridor but as a multi-scalar territorial organism whose spatial logic is encoded in flows—of water, of pilgrimage, of social life, and of topographic gradients. This perspective allows the proposal to operate across temporal strata, foregrounding continuity rather than conservation-as-fixity.
The Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Historical Axis constitutes one of Bursa’s most intricate palimpsests, where hydrological systems, sacred geographies, and vernacular urban morphologies interweave to produce a rare syncretic landscape. The project approaches this axis not as a linear heritage corridor but as a multi-scalar territorial organism whose spatial logic is encoded in flows—of water, of pilgrimage, of social life, and of topographic gradients. This perspective allows the proposal to operate across temporal strata, foregrounding continuity rather than conservation-as-fixity.
The design methodology rests on revealing and re-suturing latent relational networks that have been fragmented by modern infrastructural impositions. The Gökdere valley is reinterpreted as an ecological spine capable of mediating microclimate, biodiversity, and urban permeability. Through a constellation of soft-landscape interventions—riparian rehabilitation, shaded transition fields, porous pedestrian terraces—the valley is restored as a climatic regulator reconnecting Setbaşı’s riverine urbanity with Yeşil’s monumental civic topography and Emirsultan’s elevated spiritual ecology.
Rather than imposing rigid architectural objects, the proposal introduces a system of adaptive spatial protocols: terraced thresholds, contemplative landings, slow-mobility promenades, and episodic cultural stations. These elements choreograph the movement of bodies and rituals while amplifying the axis’s experiential legibility. The design treats pilgrimage not only as a religious practice but as a spatial grammar that structures rhythms of ascent, pause, and orientation.
The design methodology rests on revealing and re-suturing latent relational networks that have been fragmented by modern infrastructural impositions. The Gökdere valley is reinterpreted as an ecological spine capable of mediating microclimate, biodiversity, and urban permeability. Through a constellation of soft-landscape interventions—riparian rehabilitation, shaded transition fields, porous pedestrian terraces—the valley is restored as a climatic regulator reconnecting Setbaşı’s riverine urbanity with Yeşil’s monumental civic topography and Emirsultan’s elevated spiritual ecology.
Rather than imposing rigid architectural objects, the proposal introduces a system of adaptive spatial protocols: terraced thresholds, contemplative landings, slow-mobility promenades, and episodic cultural stations. These elements choreograph the movement of bodies and rituals while amplifying the axis’s experiential legibility. The design treats pilgrimage not only as a religious practice but as a spatial grammar that structures rhythms of ascent, pause, and orientation.
Vehicular infrastructures that once severed the historical continuum are reconfigured into subsurface or peripheral alignments, enabling an uninterrupted pedestrian–landscape interface. Materiality is conceived through a restrained palette—local stone, timber, and permeable surfaces—capable of aging into the historical context without mimetic nostalgia.
Ultimately, the project positions the Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Axis as a regenerative cultural ecology: a dynamic interface where heritage is not merely preserved but actively reactivated through environmental restoration, socio-spatial porosity, and topographic resonance. The proposal imagines the axis as a future-oriented civic landscape that deepens its historical identity precisely by enabling new forms of urban inhabitation, ritual continuity, and ecological intelligence.
Vehicular infrastructures that once severed the historical continuum are reconfigured into subsurface or peripheral alignments, enabling an uninterrupted pedestrian–landscape interface. Materiality is conceived through a restrained palette—local stone, timber, and permeable surfaces—capable of aging into the historical context without mimetic nostalgia.
Ultimately, the project positions the Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Axis as a regenerative cultural ecology: a dynamic interface where heritage is not merely preserved but actively reactivated through environmental restoration, socio-spatial porosity, and topographic resonance. The proposal imagines the axis as a future-oriented civic landscape that deepens its historical identity precisely by enabling new forms of urban inhabitation, ritual continuity, and ecological intelligence.
The Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Historical Axis constitutes one of Bursa’s most intricate palimpsests, where hydrological systems, sacred geographies, and vernacular urban morphologies interweave to produce a rare syncretic landscape. The project approaches this axis not as a linear heritage corridor but as a multi-scalar territorial organism whose spatial logic is encoded in flows—of water, of pilgrimage, of social life, and of topographic gradients. This perspective allows the proposal to operate across temporal strata, foregrounding continuity rather than conservation-as-fixity.
The design methodology rests on revealing and re-suturing latent relational networks that have been fragmented by modern infrastructural impositions. The Gökdere valley is reinterpreted as an ecological spine capable of mediating microclimate, biodiversity, and urban permeability. Through a constellation of soft-landscape interventions—riparian rehabilitation, shaded transition fields, porous pedestrian terraces—the valley is restored as a climatic regulator reconnecting Setbaşı’s riverine urbanity with Yeşil’s monumental civic topography and Emirsultan’s elevated spiritual ecology.
Rather than imposing rigid architectural objects, the proposal introduces a system of adaptive spatial protocols: terraced thresholds, contemplative landings, slow-mobility promenades, and episodic cultural stations. These elements choreograph the movement of bodies and rituals while amplifying the axis’s experiential legibility. The design treats pilgrimage not only as a religious practice but as a spatial grammar that structures rhythms of ascent, pause, and orientation.
Vehicular infrastructures that once severed the historical continuum are reconfigured into subsurface or peripheral alignments, enabling an uninterrupted pedestrian–landscape interface. Materiality is conceived through a restrained palette—local stone, timber, and permeable surfaces—capable of aging into the historical context without mimetic nostalgia.
Ultimately, the project positions the Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Axis as a regenerative cultural ecology: a dynamic interface where heritage is not merely preserved but actively reactivated through environmental restoration, socio-spatial porosity, and topographic resonance. The proposal imagines the axis as a future-oriented civic landscape that deepens its historical identity precisely by enabling new forms of urban inhabitation, ritual continuity, and ecological intelligence.
Project team:
S&A
Building physics:
S&A BPC
Honors:
Bursa Setbaşı–Yeşil–Emirsultan Historical Axis Urban Design Ideas Competition, Acquisition Award
(Other works)
