Saying, “Cities should be evaluated at in terms of whether the value judgments of the people who founded a city and the physical structuring in this city match up,” Ökten continued as follows:
“When we look at our values, we have no choice but to believe. Both Marxists, capitalists and Muslims believe, but the values they believe in are different. One cannot live without believing, everyone can believe in something. So, can the society living in the city live as easily as they believe? Whatever is in the imagination of civilization, the city is designed accordingly. The Islamic city is designed in such a way that we can experience Islam.” Emphasizing that the values of human beings are decisive in the construction of civilization and cities, Ökten said:
“We have value judgments within us. These judgments determine our social and individual behaviors according to which civilization conception we belong to. I personally learned my values, especially from my family and teachers. Later, I saw that the provisions that I learned from my family were the same as those written in the books. Our actions and lifestyle are based on value judgments.”
“Our cities should be both functional and aesthetic”
Prof Dr. Sadettin Sadettin Ökten stated that every object in our lives has two dimensions, the first of which is functional and the second is symbolic, and people seek these two together. Noting that the city should be both functional and aesthetic, Ökten said, “The city should remind us, make us feel and adopt the values of civilization to which we belong. Such a city is both functional and aesthetic.”
Prof Dr. Sadettin Ökten, “Actions create values, and they grow in space, in the city. Actions, which are a set of values, must be preserved in social memory. This happens with some monuments, memorials, a statue or a complex. Events that left their mark on social life are remembered with these works. For example, after the conquest, ten social complexes were built in the historical peninsula in Istanbul. The first of them is Hagia Sophia and the last is the Laleli Mosque built in the time of Mustafa III.”
Expressing that libraries play a vital role in the construction of a civilization city, Prof Dr. Sadettin Ökten said: “Books allow us to meet with different worlds and different thoughts. The identity of a city is defined and completed by the library. Libraries are outstanding works that represent both the memories and identity of a society.”
