Building by demolition: An analysis of mentality through the production of urban/architectural oxymorons in Trabzon (20th century)

Among the changes and transformations that cities have experienced from past to present, the "physical" ones are particularly striking because they tend to be the most visible. Although the first thing that comes to mind as physical change/transformation activities are "construction" activities, it is a fact that " destruction" activities also have an undeniable impact. Based on the hypothesis that city histories can be read not only through "constructions" but also through " destruction", this study traces the production of urban/architectural oxymorons in the context of the city of Trabzon. In this regard, the "expropriation"-oriented reconstruction activities undertaken by the rulers of the 1950s to rebuild Istanbul are among the most striking and dramatic examples of urban destruction on the urban scale towards the modernization of the city under the leadership of the actors of the period. The situation was similar in Trabzon from the Russian occupation period until the 1960s, and many destructions were carried out in different periods for the sake of the reconstruction of the city. Municipal Assembly Minutes and period newspapers are full of dramatic examples of "building by destructing" activities in Trabzon, and in the present study, a mindset reading is conducted in the context of the city by looking at the process that led to the demolition of each building/space from the perspective of the dynamics and actors of the period.