Reading traditional landscape layers in rural areas

The landscape, which is considered as a moving character, communicates with the human being who has shaped life since ancient times and contains many traces waiting to be discovered on it. The human being whose mental map is affected, changing, transforming and developing with these traces discovered and new relationships established on it, is in a continuous communication with the landscape, which is the whole of the identifiable physical and intellectual environment. The person who affects the landscape during the interaction also shapes the physical, social and cultural environment by using the landscape as a resource. Within this shaped lifestyle, rural areas that have strong ties with nature and take their references from the natural and cultural layers of the immediate environment and rural settlements within it emerge as unique examples of being in touch with nature. These settlements, which have been designed with the experience of thousands of years and form integrity with their surroundings, form the traditional landscape to which they belong, as well as the interior spaces. While the Venice Charter emphasizes the importance of the past of rural settlements, which are a component of traditional landscape layers, and their connection with the surrounding layers, it also emphasizes that these places are a part of cultural heritage. These places, which respond to the needs of the people's lifestyle before the industrial revolution with the strong communication established with the traditional layers of the landscape, are important representatives of the past lifestyle. However, in the century we live in, negative changes are seen in people's communication with the landscape. Man, whose understanding of dominating nature has become dominant, becomes dominant in many places in the world with the opportunities he has and affects that environment. However, the continuous increase in the population brings an upward acceleration in the traditionally increasing resource consumption and the natural area deformation, and the species diversity decreases as a result of the deformation of the natural areas. In addition, evolving from a lifestyle that is compatible with the environment to a lifestyle that almost ignores the environment is witnessing the spatial increase of settlements that develop in an environmentally insensitive way, while rural settlements, which are original examples of harmony with nature, are subject to a spatial decrease. As in many rural settlements of the Anatolian geography, many traditional rural settlements within the borders of Malatya province are due to the urbanization phenomenon that comes to the fore with the effects of the industrial revolution, the lower level of infrastructure services compared to the city centers, economic factors, comfort concerns, unemployment, etc. As a result of the reasons, it takes on a character that is isolated by the immigrations. The development of rural areas, which should be protected with their characteristics, relations with the environment and ties with the past, should not be considered only in connection with economic values, but on the contrary, landscape should be evaluated first. It is important to read the traditional landscape layers, which are a component of traditional rural settlements in the province of Malatya, where the concept of destroy and build is common, both separately and over rural settlements, and the preparation of evaluation matrices for these places is important in terms of preserving our original values in the past and transferring them to future generations.