A national guideline p for the sustainable management of world heritage sites in Turkey

The World Heritage Convention, which was prepared by UNESCO with the idea of considering cultural and natural assets as the common heritage of humanity, aims to protect the architectural heritage in a sustainable way and pass it on to future generations. As a result of the efforts and studies on sustainable conservation, the concept of area management was developed and the creation of area management plans for World Heritage Sites was made mandatory by UNESCO. This is intended to systematize the process of sustainable conservation, which is a dynamic process with many participants. In addition, the Area Management Plan aims to protect sites of Outstanding Universal Value designated by UNESCO with transparent, participatory, balanced, and circular conservation strategies. To ensure the sustainable protection of cultural heritage sites, countries should develop a conservation system in accordance with their existing conservation policies and legislation, taking into account their unique social, cultural, and economic dynamics. For this reason, a comprehensive and systematic management plan guide has been proposed in this study to contribute to the sustainable protection of World Heritage Sites in Turkey. In preparing the guide, international and national guides, standards, guidelines, and studies were examined and the main criteria of the guide were determined. Approved management plans prepared in Turkey were analyzed and solutions were proposed for the identified problems. A guideline was prepared outlining a transparent, participatory, balanced, and circular system in line with Turkish nature conservation policy. The developed guideline was tested in the Ivriz Cultural Landscape Area and its applicability was evaluated. The guideline developed specifically for Turkey, which offers alternative solutions for different areas, is important and necessary to shorten the preparation processes for area management plans and to enable the preparation of participatory, transparent, and applicable plans.