The Transformation of Urban Leisure Culture in İstanbul: The Case of Florya as a Cultural Landscape

This article evaluates the modern summer leisure culture that developed along the southwestern coastal line of İstanbul, focusing on the Florya Atatürk Marine Mansion and its surrounding summer leisure facilities. This assessment is conducted through consideration of the historical and social parameters following the proclamation of the Republic. In this framework, the settlement is examined through an integrated approach encompassing all its spatial and social facilities. The study aims to demonstrate that in addition to its role as a recreational area, Florya also served as a space for public transformation, embodying the Republic’s ideals of modern life. The complex was designed and used as an area reflecting modern summer leisure culture. Designed by Seyfi Arkan, incorporating the rational architectural approach of the period with the principles of functionality, simplicity, openness and integration with nature, the project was completed in 1935. It produced different scenarios of public life with the beach, changing cabins, promenades and the casino designed around the mansion. Within this scope, the Florya Marine Mansion and leisure facilities demonstrated that architecture is not merely a product of its time but rather a stage where the public could express themselves physically, culturally and socially. In this context, the study examines the settlement with all its summer leisure facilities by evaluating these aspects. Through an examination of both social and spatial production dimensions, the area is defined as a cultural landscape where the principles of modern architecture intersect with public life, nature and leisure culture and through which Türkiye’s modernization story can be read through space.