An assessment on conservation activities in Bursa, focusing on conservation council decisions 1955-2012

---

Tezin Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mimarlık Fakültesi, Mimarlık Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2015

Öğrenci: SERMİN ÇAKICI

Danışman: NERİMAN ŞAHİN GÜÇHAN

Özet:

Theoretical, legal and organizational processes in conservation have been widely studied by scholars; however, conservation activities -such as listing procedures and applied conservation plan together with restoration projects in Turkey are poorly documented and published. There are not enough inventories of any kind and literature, such as periodicals on conservation and restoration work, remain mostly inadequate in defining the practical processes of architectural and urban conservation. This lack of information makes it difficult to evaluate restoration projects and determine their shortcomings from which lessons could be learned. Among numerous historic towns in Turkey, Bursa comes out as a town where conscious decisions were made to preserve its cultural heritage since midth of the 19th century, while being inhabited since 2nd century BC and becoming the first capital city of Ottoman Empire. Governors, mayors and various local institutions emerge as having a sustained positive influence of conservation decisions. However, as yet, neither a holistic research nor an interpretation exists concerning the conservation activities and the driving forces behind those decisions made in Bursa. In this concept, the aim of this research is to analyze and evaluate conservation decisions taken by the Conservation Councils (GEEAYK, TKTVKYK and BKTVKBK) and their applications in the historic town of Bursa, since 1955. Thereby, chronological classification of urban conservation activities as well as roles of changing legislations and local authorities in applications have been studied, in order to assess the conservation history in Bursa. It is aimed that the results of this dissertation will contribute to form the basis of future proper decisions and applications for the conservation and sustainability of cultural heritage in Bursa, as being accepted as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites recently.