Current challenges of managing urban heritage in Turkey

2012-07-15
Turkey acquires a remarkable wealth of historic and cultural heritage. Yet, changing economic, political, legal and social conditions often turn this legacy into a liability. Since the mid-1980s, along with the neo-liberal policies, the widening of market mechanism and a competitive real-estate market were followed by the rapid privatization of public lands and other assets, the expansion of local governments’ jurisdictions, and the growing presence of global capital especially in big cities. Together with the neo-liberal urbanism, heritage has been recognized more and more as a physical asset with its economic and symbolic contributions to the cities’ competitiveness within the global market. This understanding of heritage has not only commodified and commercialized it, but it has also been undermined its social and cultural significance and values. In Turkey, heritage, like in many other countries, has become a city-marketing and branding instrument and a catalyst for urban regeneration schemes. Likewise, the rapid urbanization in Turkish cities has also acted as a growing threat against the historic and cultural heritage. This paper aims to underline and discuss a variety of current challenges and threats on the conservation of cultural and historic heritage in Turkey. It will examine these challenges and threats regarding political, legal, financial, economic and social dimensions, as well as the new planning priorities.

Suggestions

Current challenges of managing urban heritage in Turkey
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge; Gedikli, Bahar; Bilgin Altınöz, Ayşe Güliz; Bilsel, Fatma Cânâ (null; 2012-10-11)
Turkey acquires a remarkable wealth of historic and cultural heritage. Yet, changing economic, political, legal and social conditions often turn this legacy into a liability. Since the mid-1980s, along with the neo-liberal policies, the widening of market mechanism and a competitive real-estate market were followed by the rapid privatization of public lands and other assets, the expansion of local governments’ jurisdictions, and the growing presence of global capital especially in big cities. Together with ...
The role of "Kudeb" in the local authorities in the maintenance and simple repair processes of cultural heritage case study : Sivrihisar
Şahlan (Çeltik), Kevser; Madran, Emre; Restoration in Department of Architecture (2007)
Turkey has a rich cultural heritage and traditional houses. However, this heritage is under the danger of extinction due to several reasons. On of the most important reason is not being able to make simple repair and maintenance of these buildings. Actually, to leave this heritage to future generations the most effective and low cost method for conserving traditional buildings is the simple repair and maintenance. In Turkey, the responsibility and authority of simple repair and maintenance is delegated to l...
Seismic Resistance Evaluation of Traditional Ottoman Timber-Frame Himis Houses: Frame Loadings and Material Tests
Aktas, Yasemin Didem; Akyüz, Uğurhan; Türer, Ahmet; Erdil, Barış; Şahin Güçhan, Neriman (SAGE Publications, 2014-11-01)
Traditional Ottoman timber-frame houses ("himis") form the major part of the cultural heritage structures in Turkey. There are many studies in the literature regarding the seismic performance of himis houses, which claim that these structures have an inherent seismically resistant property. However, these studies lack a quantitative engineering approach and are based on observations made after contemporary earthquakes. This study presents the results of the seismic resistance evaluation of traditional Ottom...
A study on the urban/architectural transformations in Keçiören district after 1990s
Pınarevli, Mehmet; Öğüt, Nergis Rana; Department of Architecture (2005)
Ankara, being the capital, has been the most important city for the New Modern Turkish State on its way of establishing the modernity project of Turkey. The development of the urban planning projects proceeded on the basis of this aimed concept of the new society, carrying the privilege of being the symbol of the modern republic, prosperity and wealth. Keçiören is one of the main districts of Ankara. The main aim of this study is to analyze and describe the ideological departure of Keçiören from the concept...
Ankara “Yeni Şehir”in Kuruluşu: “Erken Cumhuriyet Konutu”nu Anlamak
Cengizkan, Ali (ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi, 2022-6)
Bir Şehir Kurmak: Ankara 1923-1933 sergi ve kitap çalışması, erken Cumhuriyet mimarlığı üzerine, özellikle de Ankara ve dönemin mimarisi konusunda çok farklı yönlerden açılımlar getirdi. Dönemin yeni Ankara’sı olan Yeni Şehir’in fotoğraflarla temellendirilerek modellenmesi, bu sırada 1300’e yakın çok özgün sayıda fotoğraf, hava fotoğrafı ve sınırlı da olsa döneme ilişkin mimari proje çizimlerinden yararlanılması, özelde Ankara’daki 350 yapılık Yeni Şehir bölgesine, genelde bütün Türkiye’de söz konusu 1923-1...
Citation Formats
Z. M. Akkar Ercan and B. Gedikli, “Current challenges of managing urban heritage in Turkey,” 2012, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/70988.