ASSESSING USER-DRIVEN INTERVENTIONS ON TRADITIONAL DWELLINGS IN URBAN HERITAGE PLACES: THE CASE OF BALBEY DISTRICT IN ANTALYA

Date

2025-11-27

Author

Ay, Begüm

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Historical urban areas, shaped through layered social, cultural, and economic processes, rely heavily on traditional dwellings to sustain their architectural and spatial identity. In Turkey, however, these buildings are increasingly exposed to neglect, unplanned alterations, and the pressures of rapid urban transformation. Although, user-driven interventions are often considered incompatible with established conservation principles, they provide valuable insight into everyday practices, household needs, and the contemporary realities of inhabiting traditional dwellings. Examining these interventions is therefore crucial for understanding how heritage environments continue to evolve in the absence of effective and sustained conservation mechanisms. Balbey District in Antalya, a 19th century residential quarter located within the historic city center, offers a critical context for exploring these dynamics. Characterized by its organic street pattern and traditional civil architecture, the district has undergone significant functional decline, physical deterioration, and redevelopment pressure despite its designation as both an urban conservation area and, more recently, an urban renewal area. This study analyzes a dataset of traditional dwellings in Balbey to identify recurring types of user-driven interventions, their underlying motivations, and the physical changes resulting from these actions. Based on fieldwork-based documentation and archival sources, it traces patterns of intervention across different building components and assesses the degree and nature of change in relation to architectural integrity and continued use. By emphasizing user needs and everyda practices that give rise to spontaneous spatial modifications, the research aims to contribute to more context-sensitive conservation approaches that acknowledge lived realities alongside formal conservation mechanisms in urban heritage contexts.

Subject Keywords

User-Driven Interventions, Traditional Dwellings, Balbey District (Antalya), Urban Heritage Places, Change Assessment

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118286

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis