ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)

For long periods of history, defensive fortifications of cities were not only absolutely necessary for the protection and prosperity of the community surrounded by the buildings, but due to the comparatively large extent of the fortifications and their persistence, they also remained determining fac...

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Main Authors: Josef Gspurning, Wolfgang Sulzer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Geobalcanica Society 2021-08-01
Series:Acta Geobalcanica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.geobalcanica.org/wp-content/uploads/AGB/2022/AGB-2022-8-6.pdf
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author Josef Gspurning
Wolfgang Sulzer
author_facet Josef Gspurning
Wolfgang Sulzer
author_sort Josef Gspurning
collection DOAJ
description For long periods of history, defensive fortifications of cities were not only absolutely necessary for the protection and prosperity of the community surrounded by the buildings, but due to the comparatively large extent of the fortifications and their persistence, they also remained determining factors of spatial development, morphology and functionality of urban centers for centuries. Only with the change in military paradigms (the emergence of effective, large caliber firearms) did these facilities prove to be outdated and obsolete, whereby several strategies could in principle be adopted for the subsequent use of the vacated areas: Either the building fabric was deliberately preserved and later integrated into the cityscape as cultural heritage (e.g. in Nördlingen, Basel or Lucca) or the walls were demolished and made way for wide boulevards with green spaces and high-quality building plots (e.g. Ringstraße in Vienna). In exceptional cases, such as in Istanbul, the city wall and its (terrestrial) apron remained "left over", so to speak, and was only put to modern use relatively late (about a thousand years after its construction). The spatial focus of the research presented in this paper lays on the urban space at and west of the land wall between the Eyüp district in the northern part of the Golden Horn and Zeytinburnu at the shoreline of the Marmara Sea and attempts to trace the transformation processes in the approximately 11.25 km² study area based on selected sources. The objects of consideration are functional as well as land use changes which took place within the last two centuries, whereby this restriction results from the special demands on the data material: In order to allow a quantitative assessment of the development, only qualitative appropriate plans, topographic maps and more modern digital GIS/RS data such as orthophotos and satellite images come into question. These sources are supplemented by material acquired during several field campaigns for data collection and verification in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
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spelling doaj.art-d4324bb90f9640cc926c574dfc2ce1302023-02-15T10:18:09ZengGeobalcanica SocietyActa Geobalcanica1857-98332021-08-0182415110.18509/AGB218-2041gISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)Josef Gspurning0Wolfgang Sulzer1Institute for Geography and Regional Sciences, University of Graz, AustriaInstitute for Geography and Regional Sciences, University of Graz, AustriaFor long periods of history, defensive fortifications of cities were not only absolutely necessary for the protection and prosperity of the community surrounded by the buildings, but due to the comparatively large extent of the fortifications and their persistence, they also remained determining factors of spatial development, morphology and functionality of urban centers for centuries. Only with the change in military paradigms (the emergence of effective, large caliber firearms) did these facilities prove to be outdated and obsolete, whereby several strategies could in principle be adopted for the subsequent use of the vacated areas: Either the building fabric was deliberately preserved and later integrated into the cityscape as cultural heritage (e.g. in Nördlingen, Basel or Lucca) or the walls were demolished and made way for wide boulevards with green spaces and high-quality building plots (e.g. Ringstraße in Vienna). In exceptional cases, such as in Istanbul, the city wall and its (terrestrial) apron remained "left over", so to speak, and was only put to modern use relatively late (about a thousand years after its construction). The spatial focus of the research presented in this paper lays on the urban space at and west of the land wall between the Eyüp district in the northern part of the Golden Horn and Zeytinburnu at the shoreline of the Marmara Sea and attempts to trace the transformation processes in the approximately 11.25 km² study area based on selected sources. The objects of consideration are functional as well as land use changes which took place within the last two centuries, whereby this restriction results from the special demands on the data material: In order to allow a quantitative assessment of the development, only qualitative appropriate plans, topographic maps and more modern digital GIS/RS data such as orthophotos and satellite images come into question. These sources are supplemented by material acquired during several field campaigns for data collection and verification in 2009, 2010 and 2011.http://www.geobalcanica.org/wp-content/uploads/AGB/2022/AGB-2022-8-6.pdfurban analysishistorical geographycartographygisremote sensing
spellingShingle Josef Gspurning
Wolfgang Sulzer
ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
Acta Geobalcanica
urban analysis
historical geography
cartography
gis
remote sensing
title ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
title_full ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
title_fullStr ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
title_full_unstemmed ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
title_short ISTANBUL’S LAND WALLS – TRANSFORMATION OF AN INTRA-URBAN GAP IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT)
title_sort istanbul s land walls transformation of an intra urban gap in the built environment
topic urban analysis
historical geography
cartography
gis
remote sensing
url http://www.geobalcanica.org/wp-content/uploads/AGB/2022/AGB-2022-8-6.pdf
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