Evrim Ulusan, PhD | Middle East Technical University (original) (raw)

Papers by Evrim Ulusan, PhD

DergiPark (Istanbul University), May 31, 2016

The Act No: 2863 for the "Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage" is a framework law that ... more The Act No: 2863 for the "Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage" is a framework law that includes provisions for institutional, technical and financial aspects of the conservation of cultural heritage of Turkey. The concept of site management was also included in the Act together as part of the comprehensive amendments that were made to it in 2004 and the related Regulation came into force in 2005. Besides, a property that is nominated to the World Heritage List is required to have an approved management plan that shows detailed activities in the short-medium-long terms as a guarantee for future protection of the property. These national and international legal necessities have caused management planning studies to gain speed in Turkey. Although the studies have mainly been carried out within World Heritage List concerned properties, it is applicable to all conservation sites in accordance with the legislation. From this point of view, the main research question in this article is to what extent the site management approach contributed to the development of conservation culture and practices in Turkey and to which degree the Turkish experience satisfied the international expectations. Therefore, firstly, a general framework of site management mechanism in Turkey was presented. In the second part, the approved management plans were assessed with reference to their processes, contents and implementation levels. In this section, proposals with respect to the substance and process of these plans were also made for attaining applicable management plans at international standards. In the last section, by taking into account the subjective experience and observations of the author within this advancement process as well, a general assessment was made.

Journal of Planning

The concept of management planning started to develop as a strategic spatial planning approach ap... more The concept of management planning started to develop as a strategic spatial planning approach applied in cultural heritage places in the 1980s as a result of the paradigm shifts in the axis of neoliberalism, environmentalism and postmodernism. It was legalized in the international protection legislation in the early 2000s, and accordingly in Türkiye in 2004, upon the amendment made in the Law on the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets No 2863. Practical experience and related academic research have improved since then, yet a detailed analysis of this academic research that would help building a link between heritage management theory and practice is absent. This article aims firstly to present socio-political strands that led to the emergence of this multifaceted concept, and then to analyze the academic interest in heritage management planning in cultural sites through postgraduate thesis studies in order to initiate a discussion on the relationship of management planning theory and practice within the Turkish context. The research outputs include a summary of dimensions analyzed and methodologies applied in the research conducted to date as well as considerations of dimensions that require further interest.

Hizla degisen dunyamizda dogal ve kulturel mirasin karsi karsiya kaldigi tehditler, evrensel dege... more Hizla degisen dunyamizda dogal ve kulturel mirasin karsi karsiya kaldigi tehditler, evrensel deger tasiyan ve butun insanliga ait olan bu mirasin korunmasi icin uluslararasi duzeyde isbirligi yapilmasi geregini dogurmustur. Bu dogrultuda 16 Kasim 1972’de “Dunya Kulturel ve Dogal Mirasinin Korunmasina Dair Sozlesme” kabul edilmistir. Sozlesme’nin amaci; kulturel ve dogal mirasi tanimlamak, korumak, tanitmak, bu mirasa sahip cikacak toplumsal bilinci ve isbirliklerini gelistirmekteidr. Bu amacla, uluslararasi onem tasiyan dogal olusumlara, anitlara ve sitlere “Dunya Mirasi” statusu taninmaktadir. Sozlesme uyarinca Taraf Ulkeler, oncelikle Dunya Miras Listesi’ne (DML) sunmak istedikleri varliklari iceren “Gecici Liste”yi (GL) Dunya Miras Komitesi’ne iletmekte yukumludurler. Surecin ilk asamasi niteligindeki bu liste, DML’nin gelecekteki goruntusune iliskin ipuclari sunmaktadir. Ulkemiz Dunya Miras Sozlesmesi’ne 1983 yilinda taraf olmustur. Mayis 2016 itibariyla 15 varligimiz DML’ne kay...

Metu Journal of The Faculty of Architecture, 2019

According to the Turkish legal system, immovable cultural properties are identified either as sin... more According to the Turkish legal system, immovable cultural properties are identified either as single properties or as conservation sites. Once registered as a cultural heritage by the state, development rights on immovable properties is strictly restricted, and the owner is responsible for the building’s maintenance, repair and restoration costs. Since maintenance expenses of a building increase with time, owners of historic buildings eventually face greater financial burdens than most can bear, resulting in the deterioration and decay of historical buildings. The aim of the paper is to trace the historical development of the state’s share in the restoration of the immovable cultural heritage of the country. Total state budget designated for credits and donations for the owners of such buildings has increased over the years, but its percentages compared to other items of the national budget did not show dramatic change in the last 50 years. In the paper, the evolution of the diffe...

Planlama, 2023

Bu makale; öncelikle yönetim planlama yaklaşımının ortaya çıktığı sosyo-politik bağlamı özetleyer... more Bu makale; öncelikle yönetim planlama yaklaşımının ortaya çıktığı sosyo-politik bağlamı özetleyerek kavramın çok boyutlu doğasını aktarmayı, sonrasında ise kültürel miras yönetim planlaması konusundaki akademik araştırmalara dönük ilginin analizini lisansüstü tezlere odaklanarak yaparak yönetim planlama yaklaşımının Türkiye pratiğindeki teori ve uygulama arasındaki ilişkisi üzerine bir tartışma başlatmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma sonunda; bugüne kadarki araştırmalarda hangi boyutların ve hangi yöntemsel yaklaşımların ele alındığı özetlenmekte, ayrıca daha fazla ilgi gerektiren boyutlar hakkında çıkarımlar yapılmaktadır

2863 sayili Kultur ve Tabiat Varliklarini Koruma Kanunu Turkiye’deki kulturel miras koruma calism... more 2863 sayili Kultur ve Tabiat Varliklarini Koruma Kanunu Turkiye’deki kulturel miras koruma calismalarinin kurumsal, teknik ve finansal boyutlarina iliskin duzenlemeler getiren bir cerceve yasa niteligindedir. Alan yonetimi kavrami da 2004 yilinda kanunda yapilan kapsamli degisiklerin bir parcasi olarak bu kanuna dahil edilmis olup ilgili Yonetmelik 2005 yilinda yururluge girmistir. Diger yanda, Dunya Miras Listesi’ne aday gosterilecek varligin bu mirasin yasatilmasinin garantisi olarak sunulacak ve kisa-orta-uzun vadelerde yapilacak detayli calismalari gosterecek onayli bir yonetim planina sahip olmasi gerekmektedir. Bu ulusal ve uluslararasi yasal duzenlemeler, ulkemizde yonetim planlamasi calismalarinin hiz kazanmasina neden olmustur. Bugune kadarki calismalar cogunlukla Dunya Miras Listesi calismalari odakli yurutulse de, alan yonetimi yaklasimi mevzuat geregi tum sit alanlarinda uygulanabilmektedir. Bu makalenin temel amaci, Turkiye’nin on yillik alan yonetimi deneyiminin yoruml...

This issue of World Heritage was dedicated to the heritage of Turkey, who was the host of the 40t... more This issue of World Heritage was dedicated to the heritage of Turkey, who was the host of the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2016. The primary aim of the article namely "Regulatory Framework for Managing World Heritage Cultural Sites in Turkey" is to give a general review of the framework for managing World Heritage cultural sites in Turkey, with special emphasis on management plans as a new tool. The review was carried out in reference to both approved and ongoing management plans in collaboration with the Department of World Heritage Sites, General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The aim of this paper is to trace the historical development of the state’s
share in restoration of the immovable cultural heritage of the country. The total state budget designated for credits and donations for the owners of such buildings has increased over the years, but its percentage compared to other items of the national budget did not show dramatic change in the last 50 years.

In the paper, the evolution of different financial instruments utilized
by Turkey’s central and local governments for restoration of registered
historical buildings will be presented and critically appraised in terms
of their performance, based on archival research and an empirical study
for calculation of an estimate of financial need for restoration of all
registered historical buildings in Turkey. Finally, a proposal will be made
for developing new financial instruments to enable the preservation of
immovable cultural properties.

Editorial The World Heritage Committee will meet for the 40th session in Istanbul, Turkey, from ... more Editorial

The World Heritage Committee will meet for the 40th session in Istanbul, Turkey, from 10th to 20th July 2016. ICOMOS’s Annual General Assembly will also take place in İstanbul from 15th to 21st October 2016. Therefore, prior to these important international meetings that will be held in Turkey, Journal of Urban Studies (IdealKent) has favored having a special focus on “Urban Memory and Urban Conservation” in the 19th and the 20th issues.

International conservation notions and approaches have traveled a long way from 1954 so-called UNESCO Hague Convention3 to the 2011 Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL). In this journey, the next destination has always been a shift towards a broader definition of heritage or definition of new heritage types, such as intangible heritage, industrial heritage, modern heritage, cultural landscape and historic urban landscape as the latest. It has not only been the definitions that are subject to change. Problems and threats have been in a process of change as well, not to ignore the arising ones. Adopting a new recommendation on the conservation of historic urban landscapes was thereof the consequence of the need to update international tools and guidelines; to meet a broader understanding for urban heritage resources; to represent a co-management approach of cultural resources and urban development to ensure sustainable conservation of our cities threatened by contemporary global and local challenges such as climate change, global terror, neoliber-al policies, new development and regeneration/renewal schemes, mass tourism, global migration, and so on. The new recommendation was pro-posed by the World Heritage Committee at the 29th session in July 2005 (in Durban, South Africa) (Van Oers, 2007); however, the definitions and approaches in the Recommendation are not only for World Heritage sites. Van Oers, (2007) who has a critical role in the development of the concept, states that these new concepts and approaches stand as international poli-cies for urban conservation in general.

Charters and recommendations are standard setting documents for guiding worldwide policies and practices (Van Oers, 2007). While interna-tional concepts and approaches are fundamental to the conservation of urban memory and urban heritage resources, there may also be distinctive solutions and attitudes being developed in different geographies and cul-tures, depending on and relevant for national or local circumstances. In this context, this special issue aimed to examine the urban conservation discipline and practice through recent concepts, approaches, and challeng-es, while also addressing international, national and local differences in the scope of the main theme.

All articles were peer-reviewed with the exception of two invited open-ing articles intended as prefaces by Emeritus Professor of urban conserva-tion Giorgio Piccinato, Roma Tre University and by Assoc.Prof. Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture. We would like to express our deep gratitude for their kind support.

We would also like to remember Dr. Ron Van Oers (2015), who had a valuable role in the international platform on conservation; Prof. Dr. Metin Ahunbay (2014), Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ersen (2014), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emre Madran (2013), Architect and Journalist Oktay Ekinci (2013), Prof. Dr. İs-met Okyay (2009), Dr. Kani Kuzucular (2007), Prof. Dr. Gönül Tankut (2005), Prof. Dr. Raci Bademli (2003) and other invaluable conservation science people that we lost in the 2000s and had devoted their lives to the conservation of Turkey’s historic heritage resources.

(The rest of Editorial is at the uploaded file. It is written both in Turkish and in English. Turkish version is followed by the English)

İdeal Kent (Kent Araştırmaları Dergisi) tam sayı by Evrim Ulusan, PhD

İdealKent (Kent Araştırmaları Dergisi), 19. Sayı: Bellek ve Kentsel Koruma-I

Conference Presentations by Evrim Ulusan, PhD

Efficacy of Public and Private Partnership in Heritage Conservation , 2023

The Efficacy of Public and Private Partnerships in Heritage Conservation, 2023

Heritage, World Heritage and the Future: Perspectives on Scale, Conservation and Dialogue, Öz & Luke (ed), İstanbul: Koç University Press, 33-56., 2022

The attention to the implementation protocols of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and, in par... more The attention to the implementation protocols of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and, in particular, the process towards nomination of inscription on the World Heritage List has gradually increased in Turkey in the last twenty years. This paper aims to share the experiences of Turkey in this process, with a specific focus on archaeological sites. The goal here is to inform stakeholders about the “back stories” that played a role in the outcomes and also to guide those who are willing to commit to this process, illustrating the fine details from the ground up. To this end, consideration is given to the motivation for inscription as well as the technical and behavioral challenges in the pre-inscription processes that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT), as the coordinating authority for nomination, must oversee. From this point forward, details are examined regarding the importance of the evaluations conducted by ICOMOS as a baseline to mitigate challenges and to provide strategies for greater success. The dataset presented draws from the nominations begun in 2010 or later.