Conservation Planning of Rural Heritage Landscapes on Urban Periphery: Valley Settlements Around Kayseri

Abstract

The process beginning with the rapid growth of cities following the Industrial Revolution and culminating in recent globalization has transformed the interaction between urban and rural areas in the last two centuries. Uncontrolled urban growth threatens rural settlements especially on the periphery, and these eventually lose their cultural and physical identity and landscape characteristics. This study investigates the effects of governmental policies and regulations in Turkey concerning the transformation and conservation of historical rural landscapes focusing on valley settlements around Kayseri, and aims to contribute to the discussion by identifying and examining relevant threats.

In Turkey, villages in metropolitan areas are considered “neighborhoods”, and their statute is obscured. Rural heritage areas represent the culture, social structure, art and architecture, construction technologies and interaction with the environment in their period, and thus, possess both tangible and intangible heritage values. However, due to the inconsistent administrative approaches of local authorities, they are rapidly losing their integrity, authenticity and characteristics, resulting in loss of cultural memory and spirit of place, beginning with those located on the periphery of growing cities.

This paper explains the vital role of policies, laws and regulations on the conservation of rural heritage areas, focusing on two Derevenk Valley settlements, Germir and Tavlusun on the urban periphery of Kayseri. Their rural, archaeological and natural heritage features resulted in their listing in 1993. These multi-cultural and multi-layered settlements, where different religious, ethnic and social groups lived together in the past, are mostly devoid of their original population and used only seasonally today. Although there are similar valley settlements around them, only two are listed as historic urban sites whereas the others, not recognized, are under the threat of new building and urban development. Derevenk Valley, closest to the city, has already been absorbed by the urban sprawl. The conservation history, legal status, management and administrative policies, characteristics and state of preservation of the designated areas analyzed here, demonstrate the importance of the timing of planning and implementation as well as the integration and coordination of the urban and conservation plans, the lack of which threatens the preservation of similar areas.