Place of urban memory in architectural and urban designs made in historical cities and Galata as an example

ABSTRACT Our rich urban memory, history and culture in a historical city like İstanbul that has had the identity of a capital city for centuries and been the scene for continuous clash and fusion of various beliefs and religions, with the influence of both Eastern (Persian and Arabian) and Western (Roman, Byzantine, Latin) cultures, is not appreciated enough. In connection to this, new building requirements in the city are realized without making a high quality examination, design and application study and constitute qualitative problems in the historical urban fabric. This thesis study focuses on the definition of and relations between historical city, urban design and urban memory concepts, in order to enable correct interpretation of them, starting with the thought that the qualitative problems we are faced with in our cities today are mostly due to the misinterpretation of many concepts primarily such as historical city and urban design. Then, by examining the history, social and architectural structure of Galata district, a neighborhood of Istanbul which can actually be described as a small city that has had the identity of a capital city for centuries during many civilizations, proposals have been made for the conservation of Galata with its artificial and social environment, in order to better emphasize the importance and place of urban memory in architectural and urban designs made in historical cities and to explain how an urban conservation study based on urban memory should be. Keywords: History, City, Conservation, Design, Memory, Historical City, Architectural Design, Urban Design Vlll