Seats and the City: Sitting as an Idle Act in Ankara Neighbourhoods

This paper re-evaluates the relationship between walking and idleness in evolving urban contexts, proposing that sitting can be understood as a new form of idleness in response to the accelerating speed of urban routines. Drawing on the established urban theories of walking and cultural terminologies highlighting the association between sitting and states of idleness within domestic spaces, the aim is to redefine idleness within the encounters of urban landscape and architectural elements. These encounters are understood as "glitches" where acts of sitting occupy spaces of walking, transforming the borders of exterior urban spaces into quasi-interior spaces. The study focuses on Esat, in Ankara, that were once exemplary modern residential districts but now located in the intersection of rapid urban change and architectural assets. These areas provide a compelling urban field for observing unplanned moments of idleness, where residents make informal interventions to reclaim space for stillness and leisure. This research questions the function of sitting as an idle act transforming spatial, behavioral and material conditions of the urban space. Accordingly, the study categorizes the idle acts and objects into three typologies: displaced seats for observing and waiting, nomad seats for taking breaks, and placed seats for passing by. Each typology is illustrated through a combination of field observation, photographic documentation, and diagrammatic drawing, that highlight how urban sitters repurpose elements of the urban environment to create moments of inactivity. Through a visual narrative, the paper underscores the significance of sitting as an act of idleness. Providing new insights into the interplay between mobility, space, and human behavior in cities, the aim is to reclaim the idle act of sitting as the new walking.