Street is Ours Once a Month
Production: Street Belongs to Us Association, Sinop Sustainable Development Association
Venue: Alaaddin Keykubat Street, Aşıklar Street, İskele Street, Aslan Street
Street is Ours Once a Month is an event aiming to revive the street culture that is about to disappear in our cities and to activate active citizenship at the neighborhood level. An environment is created where people can communicate with their streets, which they do not turn to look at as they move rapidly in the daily pace of life, they do not notice what is on the corner or wall, maybe with their neighbors they do not know, and the grocery store they have never chatted with. A Street in the city is closed to traffic for a day, and those who live on that street, those who pass the street, and those who come to see it, spend time together. A person taking up his backgammon, knitting and toys goes down the street, music is played, dances are performed, meals cooked at homes are served… This can be called a “city picnic”. The focus is on thinking about street culture and how to design more pedestrian-priority, accessible, livable living spaces to reclaim and develop this culture unlike countryside picnics.
It started to be conducted under the leadership of the Street Belongs to Us Association, an association based in İstanbul. Having been held only in İstanbul, this event was first held in Sinop in 2014 as a different city. The first few activities were carried out under the leadership of the Street Belongs to Us Association, with the partnership of Sinopale and Sinop Sustainable Development Association, with the support of local civic initiatives and the municipality. Later, Street Belongs to Us Association organized a training program in which local initiatives in Sinop participated. In this program, which aims to provide the ability to do this activity without the leadership of the Street Belongs to Us Association, a training was given and an activity was organized under the “supervision” of the Association. At the end of the successfully completed program, Sinop became the first city authorized to organize this event autonomously.