Preserving and Rehabilitating the Historic Urban Landscape of Istanbul: A Case Study of the Büyükdere District

Büyükdere has been a settlement since the Byzantine period and was a popular summer destination for ambassadors and foreigners due to its natural beauty in the 18th and 19th centuries. Nevertheless, while the urban sprawl of Büyükdere continued during the Republican period, the settlement began to lose its cosmopolitan structure. The problematic legal processes of Bosporus caused deterioration in the historical fabric of Büyükdere, even though it was declared a “historical urban site” in 1983. As a unique part of Bosporus’ urban morphology, Büyükdere has not received enough attention, which can support the preservation of its urban fabric, from scholars and local authorities so far. Therefore, this study aims to fill the knowledge gap on Büyükdere by highlighting its preservation problems and thus, developing rehabilitation proposals for its historical urban fabric. The settlement was documented via various analyses, and through them: legal, physical, and socio-economic preservation problems were determined at the building and urban scales. In 2023, 10,2% of the buildings were determined unoccupied, whilst 10% of the buildings were observed as structurally in bad condition. While 50,9% of the existing building stock was determined as new buildings, 6,4% of the buildings on the site were newly constructed on listed parcels. When the numbers of listed buildings were compared in 1978, 1983, 2004, and 2022, it was determined that 167 heritage buildings were lost during the last decades. The primary cause of this heritage loss has been identified as legal procedures, which significantly impact the site's preservation status. In parallel with these, due to the decrease in the local population, abandonment and neglect were observed to impact the deterioration level of remaining heritage buildings. Consequently, new urban designs and interventions were proposed to revitalize the fabric and create a sustainable preservation environment.