Urban Gateway: Just a Symbol, or More? (Reappraising an Old Idea in the Case of Ankara)

Physical planning and design literature is heavily dominated by the contemporary discourse on ‘urban sprawl’, ‘elusive metropolis’ or ‘edgeless cities’. One consequence is that many conventional notions of urban form now tend to be considered outmoded for contemporary urban strategies, such as urban gateway. The main aim of this paper is to elaborate on this view and to explore possibilities for updating the meaning of the concept in the current urban context. The paper examines the transformative connotations of the city gate as both artefact and idea. The concept is then related to the developmental history of Ankara, in order to develop a critical redefinition in a real case. The case discusses the emerging role of the urban gateway concept as popular discourse for a ‘radical urbanist’ approach within the capital city of a rapidly transforming country, Turkey.