From commerce to art: Transformation of intervention through the interactions of virtual and urban space in Karaköy

Having been subject to various spatial interferences amid rapid urbanization, Karaköy is one of Istanbul’s central neighbourhoods whose identity has significantly transformed in the last years. This paper focuses on Karaköy’s streets which were once the centre of trade, have now been replaced by artistic collective constructs. The study aims to document this transformation, considering various physical and social aspects of urban space, while highlighting a new form of “urban intervention” through virtual spaces. It questions how virtual environments can be considered as a mode of intervention in urban space and delves into the transitions from ordinary commerce places to artistic urban spaces. Validating user-space interaction, the technological interference of social networks with physical space creates virtual centres of attraction, improving the popularity of places. The field research focuses on the environs of Tersane Avenue, Mumhane Avenue and Ali Paşa Değirmeni Street in Karaköy, attending to spaces where commerce once took place –now replaced by artistic collective constructs and articulations. Captured virtual-spatial interventions are operationalized in three stages: First, functional transformations are analysed at the street-scale. This is followed by analyzing images and quantitative data extracted from social network databases. Finally, the up-to-date spatial analyses are constructed, and the intersections of virtual and urban spaces are evaluated. Findings show that the user experience and pleasure-based design elements bear the interaction between virtual and urban space, additionally, the virtual-spatial intervention encompasses the transformation of urban space beyond conventional practices aimed at structural and functional change.