Towards the formation of urban regulations in the Ottoman context: Istanbul case (original) (raw)

Abstract

The paper will be focused on the 18th century Istanbul, which is an era of attempts to form the modern urban regulations in the Ottoman context. In this period, unlike the 19th century, pre-modern mechanisms are more prevalent in urban management which results in undefined boundaries. According to official archives, it is understood that the morphological structure of buildings and ownership issues are too intricate to be described. All the regulations are formulated either after disasters or neighborhood conflicts. Disasters that affect Istanbul the most were fires and earthquakes. Since most of the buildings were constructed with timber and the streets were narrow and irregular, the fires could spread very quickly, affecting large areas in a short time. The most destructive earthquake of this period happened in 1766, destroying most of the districts in the city. After this disaster, it is known that public buildings were restored, however we have too scarce information about the condition of civil buildings. Therefore, mostly the regulations were concerned with the structure of public buildings. In order to mitigate disaster risks, codes regarding all buildings, such as banning of the construction of timber structures and limitation of the projections of buildings and eaves were also issued. Regulations concerning the civil architecture can also be found in the records of public petitions including neighborhood conflicts. These usually arise from the social structure of Istanbul which is comprised of various ethno-religious groups. According to regulations, different groups had different building codes. For example, non-Muslims could only build up to two floors and were not allowed to paint their houses in colors other than black or gray. As a result of all these attempts to refine urban codes, urban form of 19th century Istanbul was created.

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