Tokol, S.A. & G. Çulcuoğlu, 2005, Space changes through time: Mardin in question, in: ECLAS (D. Oguz), ‘Landscape change’, Department of Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Agriculture Ankara University, Ankara
- Author : Tokol, S.A. & G. Çulcuoğlu
- Year : 2005
- Published in Book : Landscape change
- Pages : 59-69
- Abstract in English : There is an assumption that any cultural landscape is an inventory of continuous acts of (re)production of the heritage considering all social, cultural, natural, economic, technological and physical processes. This understanding requires transformation of knowledge and urban experience into a new, yet inexperienced, platform of life and communication. Here, the urban space is taken as the interactive medium, the “mediator” that represents urban culture. One must consider certain critical issues such as urban identity, collective memory, local culture, and sense of place. This paper is a partial resume of an ongoing study on Mardin, one of the south-eastern cities of Turkey located at the crossroads of upper Mesopotamia and a significant junction point of old Silk Road in Anatolia. One can sense different ethnic and religious cultures under Byzantine and Ottoman reigns, e.g., Arabic Muslim, Armenian, Artukid (Turkmen), Jewish, Kurdish, Syriac Orthodox, and can see peculiar examples of them. The basic objective of this paper is to question and to document changes of urban space understanding in Mardin, considering historical significance and properties of the city, in terms of spatial meaning and function. Spatial changes in a historical context, Mardin in particular, is held by a multi – disciplinary critical approach.
- Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: Mardin, urban heritage, urban space, historic urban landscape, cultural diversity. / Eclas 2005