Reflective and Generative Dialog: Spatial Socio-Cultural Reading on Sacred-Cyclic Mythical Architectural Spaces of Şanlıurfa

Date

2025-9-1

Author

Pişkin, Nazelin

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The relationship between space and culture is usually discussed through processes of transformation, while continuity remains underexplored. This thesis argues that neglecting archetypal elements enduring across temporality implies reducing the space–culture relationship to merely contextual and flexible dynamics. Therefore, it proposes continuity as an equivalent analytical axis in understanding of the space–culture relationship. In this respect, the thesis aims to reveal archetypal cyclical images that resist temporal erosion and preserve their existence, albeit by changing form. The traditional urban core of Şanlıurfa, including the Balıklıgöl Plateau, is chosen as the research area for its heterogeneous, multilayered structure where the physical and semantic are repeatedly fragmented and reassembled. Known today as the “City of Prophets”, Şanlıurfa reveals through Göbeklitepe and the Taş Tepeler excavations that its sacred topography extends back eleven thousand years. Accordingly, the dissertation carries out the evaluation of different types of layers within the framework of the Anatomy Analysis Method, combining it with Typomorphological Analysis, Space Syntax, oral history, and archival research supported by ethnographic fieldwork. Based on all findings, the thesis argues that sacred spaces sustain their continuity through a triadic mechanism of place narrative, ritual, and meaning, which enables them to preserve their sacred identity despite temporal ruptures, transformations in belief systems, and spatial interventions. In parallel, the thesis introduces the concept of “semantic resistance”, showing that sacred spaces persist not only physically but also through symbolic meaning, thus extending Conzen’s definition of resistant elements, which he identifies as street networks and plot patterns.

Subject Keywords

Space-culture Relation, Şanlıurfa, Typomorphology, Place Narrative, Ritual

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116159

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis