INVESTIGATION OF THE HISTORICAL CITY OF HARPUT IN TERMS OF THE

Abstract

Aim: Life has accelerated in the world, especially after the Industrial Revolution. Local food, craft, and homemade products have been replaced by industrial products based on the mass production of machines and cities have gone through a period of rapid growth. Today, unplanned growth and rapid population growth have caused serious problems in cities and negatively affected urban life. In these unplanned urbanization activities, practices that can harm the natural environment and cultural heritage of the cities have emerged. These factors create the problem of losing local identity in cities today. To prevent the problems that arise in this situation, it is necessary to protect the local identity, cultural, natural, and historical heritage in the cities. In this context, the promises of the Cittaslow movement, whose aim is to "protect nature, local and all existing cultural values", and the benefits it will bring if implemented, have attracted attention recently. Cittaslow is a reaction to the fast lifestyle imposed by globalization. Cittaslow is applied in many settlements around the world today. This study, it is aimed to investigate how the Cittaslow movement can be applied to Harput and the achievements that the Harput region can achieve with the Cittaslow criteria. Method: Suggestions for Harput were developed within the scope of Cittaslow criteria by evaluating the expert opinions obtained by the survey method within the scope of the research and analyzing the current situation of the field. Results: The findings obtained within the scope of the study were that positive results would be obtained if the cittaslow approach was applied directly or in principle to Harput. Conclusion: If Harput is declared as Cittaslow, the historical settlement will become an important ancient city again, although it does not fully regain its importance in history due to the destructions it has suffered. Another method in this regard is to apply only the Cittaslow criteria to Harput as an urban policy.