Revitalization and Sustainability of Historic Tombs with Their Neighbourhood: A case from Turkey

Abstract

Historic tombs are important buildings in our architectural legacy both in terms of their tangible and intangible values. Hence, they are among the monuments preserved by Turkish government’s related bodies, providing substantial grants for the preservation of these buildings. This study examines a 16th century historic tomb, Karyagdi Sultan Tomb, located in a congested area in Ankara, Turkey.  Although the tomb is at the hearth of the city and can be reached easily, it is not much known and visited by the community because of the unplanned constructions mostly used for commercial purposes surrounding and hiding the building.  The objective of this study is to investigate sustainability potentials and develop revitalization suggestions of the tomb and its neighbourhood appropriate to the environmental, cultural, and social values of the region by means of need analysis, field works, and interviews with the local community.  Overall, the study findings suggest that thanks to the appropriate sustainable solutions for the development of the neighbourhood and existing built heritage with regard to community, neighbourhood, and building context, visiting capacity and recognition of the tomb and the area can be increased substantially. Hence the research formulated several holistic sustainable preservation suggestions, and recommended further studies in order to realize the potentials of sustainability evident.