Comparison of children's awarness to cultural heritage at the scale of urban and rural settlement: The Batman case

ABSTRACT MASTER THESIS COMPARISON OF CHILDREN'S AWARNESS TO CULTURAL HERITAGE AT THE SCALE OF URBAN AND RURAL SETTLEMENT: THE BATMAN CASE Mehmet Sabih YELSİZ Batman University Graduate Education Institute Tourism Management and Art History Department Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sonay KAYGALAK CELEBİ 2025, 70 Pages Human beings live as a whole with their environment from birth to death. In every aspect of her/his daily life, she/he encounters tangible and intangible cultural heritage elements acquired from past generations. Awareness of these elements encountered in the social and physical environment is important for the protection of cultural heritage. Childhood period is a golden age in gaining awareness of cultural heritage. In this context, the aim of this thesis is to measure and compare the cultural heritage awareness of children living in urban and rural areas. In other words, it is to reveal what children's perceptions of cultural heritage are and to reveal the common and different aspects of urban and rural perceptions. Since it is aimed to obtain deep information about cultural heritage from children, the research method was determined as qualitative research design. The data were collected through in-depth face-to-face interviews with children between the ages of 10 and 13 who live in Batman city centre and Ayrancılar village of Beşiri district of Batman province and receive secondary education. The data were grouped and analysed using content analysis. As a result, it can be said that children living in Batman city centre have higher awareness of cultural heritage than children living in rural areas. Keywords: Cultural Heritage, TangibleCultural Heritage, Child, Batman, Awareness