Historical heritage - conservation - restoration in small towns and question of rural gentrification in Turkey

Dinçer, Yüksel and Dinçer, İclal (2005) Historical heritage - conservation - restoration in small towns and question of rural gentrification in Turkey. In: 15th ICOMOS General Assembly and International Symposium: ‘Monuments and sites in their setting - conserving cultural heritage in changing townscapes and landscapes’, 17 – 21 oct 2005, Xi'an, China. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract (in English)

In many countries, it is the small towns where the original historical heritage is protected. These small towns are generally those where rural economy dominates in a closed social structure. Especially in countries with highly centralized administration, these towns usually remain outside the general dynamics and axis of develeopment as well. In the developing countries, such towns have already lost a large portion of their population to metropolitan centers and the remaining aging rural population with limited expectations is not capable to produce a synergie neither for economic development nor for the formulation of a substantial demand for higher standards of living, including renovation of their environment. In addition, it is this population with limited means and expectations who own the most significant buildings in these small towns and who cannot conserve, renovate and sustain them. Lately, we increasingly come across efforts to promote a certain economic dynamism by the utilization of the cultural heritage of the cities as a factor of development. However, these efforts that require the restoration of the original features of the buildings usually fail because of the economic inadequacy of the very owners of the buildings. It is expected that the owners would restore their buildings so that the building assumes a touristic value and the population in that town benefits from the new touristic activity. However, it is usually the case that their initial economic inadequacy leads the owners to not to benefit economically from this restoration because they continue to occupy the restored and renovated buildings that they own and/or they do not have the economic means to start and sustain touristic business enterprises. Therefore, it is usually the case where the owners of such buildings who invest in the restoration of their homes contribute to the restoration of the city but they themselves do not directly and equitably benefit from the newly acquired touristic value of the city as a result of such restorations. On the other hand, in case the owner is unable to sustain let alone restore the building, those buildings are usually bought by the elites from the metropolitan areas; this, in turn, leads to rural gentrification where the city more often than not closes itself to outside and turns into a ghetto of elites in the ruralThis paper attempts to compare some small towns in Turkey that have conserved their historical features from a perspective which argues that the historical heritage of a town is the common heritage.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Authors:	Authors Email Dinçer, Yüksel UNSPECIFIED Dinçer, İclal UNSPECIFIED
Languages:	English
Keywords:	small towns; economic aspects; economic development; conservation; restoration; cultural tourism; sustainable development; tourist industry
Subjects:	I. CULTURAL TOURISM > 05. Tourism impact I. CULTURAL TOURISM > 04. Sustainable tourism J. HERITAGE ECONOMICS > 02. Economic impact of heritage J. HERITAGE ECONOMICS > 05. Heritage and sustainable development J. HERITAGE ECONOMICS > 03. Economic values of heritage H. HERITAGE TYPOLOGIES > 12. Historic towns and villages
ICOMOS Special Collection:	Scientific Symposium (ICOMOS General Assemblies)
ICOMOS Special Collection Volume:	2005, 15th
Depositing User:	Jose Garcia
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2010 07:35
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2023 16:34
URI:	https://openarchive.icomos.org/id/eprint/374

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