A proposed method for urban conservation practices in planning process of Turkey

The conservation of historical areas involves protecting cultural values, traditions, works of art and other important elements. This process is realized through conservation-oriented development plans. The principles regarding the preparation of this zoning plans in Turkey are set out in Law No. 2863. Law No. 2863, which come into force in 1983, is an important regulation for the conservation of historical areas in Turkey through zoning plans. Until this year, historical areas were planned together with their surroundings. With Law No. 2863, historical areas were planned separately from their surroundings in order to better understand the building typology and to enable interdisciplinary work. In the new process, the planning team includes different experts such as art historians, restorer architects, archaeologists and sociologists. The fact that zoning plans defined as "conservation-oriented" treat historical areas separately from their surroundings was initially considered a positive motivation for conservation. However, these plans have been criticized for failing to ensure the integrity of historic areas with their surroundings. Another problem is the perception that there is no need for sensitivity to conservation with respect to other plans. In this thesis, the plans produced in the surroundings of historical areas are analyzed in terms of the number of stories and building density values. The main objective is to determine whether the plans are sensitive to the conservation of historical areas or not. The study was conducted on 20 sample areas. According to the results, as the population of the settlement increases, the number of stories and building density values in the zoning plans increase. In other words, conservation sensitivity towards historical areas decreases. As a result, a method proposal has been developed for the way urban conservation practices in Turkey is handled with planning tools, based on the conservation and planning experiences from the establishment of the Republic of Turkey to the present day and the discussions in the literature on the conservation approaches of different countries.