Reading Republican Period of an Anatolian City through City Yearbooks: Case of Burdur

Abstract

The documentation of cultural and architectural pattern of a city is a crucial issue in order to conserve past and plan future. Nevertheless, modern urban history of small Anatolian cities are not well documented when compared to big cities such as Ankara and İstanbul. In this respect, city yearbooks, which were published by the governorships in specific periods, become significant reliable references for the Republican period. This study aimed to examine the city yearbooks as the witnesses of the history of the modern architecture and planning in Turkey, and questioned how they can be used as references by architectural historians. First, city yearbooks were generally examined in terms of their context, publication periods, and availability for Anatolian cities. Second, as a case study, the Republican period of Burdur was attempted to be read through the city yearbooks of 1938, 1967 and 1973. Actually, these yearbooks are not academic documents written by architects and planners. They are mostly collected writings of Governorship employees in order to present various issues of the city. However, with an analytical reading, these yearbooks may turn into fundamental resources for the history of modern architecture and planning.