A research on the documentation of cultural values and improvement of awareness of the traditional housing district of Bayindir

Historical urban districts with their architectural and historical values are one of the important components of our cultural heritage. In order to discuss the sustainable preservation approaches focusing on these districts, it is important to identify the cultural assets that value the district and make them known, and owned by the local users. The most important factor that makes the users own the place they live in is the association of user-place relationship. The increase in the awareness of the place enables the users to value the place and strengthen the user's relation with it. In this context, this study aims to define the cultural values of the historical settlement of Bayındır, besides developing proposals to increase the awareness and to strengthen, to protect these cultural values. Bayındır is a cultural heritage site with its historical and architectural values. In order to protect the traditional housing district of Bayındır, it is essential to increase the awareness and make the users to own the place. With this approach, firstly the urban and architectural characteristics of Bayındır traditional housing district were analysed, the social structure of the area and the existing protection problems were examined. After then, the heritage buildings and places of the district were determined. Due to the data obtained from the analyses, proposals related to the preservation of the traditional housing district were developed. Accordingly, preservation criteria related to the traditional housing district were redefined and experience routes that aim to increase the awareness of the district were suggested. These suggestions will enable to preserve the urban district in a holistic way, let the users to realize the values of their environment and increase the sense of belonging by strengthening the user-place relationship.