A proposal for a cultural route with participatory approach: Hisar case in the historic urban landscape of Bursa

The historical urban landscape has been formed as a result of the accumulation of tangible and intangible heritage values of the city in layers and intertwining with each other in the process. It is of great importance that these values are preserved and maintained so that they can be passed on to future generations by the societies that produce and live it. In today's historical urban landscape protection studies, local people can participate in decision-making processes to the extent allowed by the administrative structure. However, it is the right of every individual to have a say over the decisions made about the city. In this context, within the scope of this thesis, a process design that envisages active participation of local people in the process of preserving the historical urban landscape has been developed. For the case study of the thesis, Hisar Region, in Osmangazi country of Bursa is selected. It is a multi-layered site built on a travertine terrace overlooking the city and contains many archaeological sites, registered monuments and historical civil architecture examples that bear the traces of those times' daily life, the historical events of the Bithinia, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Turkish Republic periods. Within the scope of the thesis, in order to conserve and sustain the historic urban landscape,, Hisar Cultural Routes were determined with a common mind in a participatory process. It is thought that urban heritage could be used as a catalizor for socio-economic development and the tourism pressure on the urban heritage could be reduced via these routes. In this context, a workshop with local people was undertaken to ensure their contribution to the route setup. The string mapping method was used in this workshop. Within the scope of this study, three themes for Hisar Cultural Route and ten alternative route systems within these themes were developed. It is expected that the tangible and intangible heritage values of the Hisar Region in the historical urban landscape of Bursa will be recognized and their values will be understood with the contribution of the proposed cultural routes, thus heritage awareness will be created and it will contribute to the conservation works in the historical urban landscape.