Narrating place identity at the Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul: an exploratory multi-method case study

Abstract Sacred urban places emerge through interactions among material configuration, social practice, and user interpretation, yet research often infers identity directly from form or conflates place identity with attachment and collective local identity. This exploratory case study asks what place-identity-related meanings residents and visitors associate with the Şehzade Mosque in Istanbul, how their accounts differ, and how those accounts correspond to geometry-based movement potential. Responses from a bilingual online survey of 23 adults (12 residents, 10 visitors, one unreported) were examined through descriptive thematic analysis. Archived DepthmapX agent movement simulation outputs were interpreted ordinally at precinct and building scales; numerical exports and behavioural calibration were unavailable. Four non-exclusive themes organised the accounts: communal belonging (18/23), architectural awe (11/23), historical continuity (9/23), and urban dichotomy (11/23). Nine of 12 residents described the mosque as a social or communal hub, whereas visitor accounts foregrounded historical and cultural significance. The simulation maps depict relatively higher modelled use in the courtyard and prayer hall and lower use toward peripheral areas. A structured correspondence matrix indicates partial correspondence rather than causal confirmation: configuration may support encounter and transition, but it cannot account for symbolic, material, historical, or group-specific meanings. The study contributes a bounded procedure for placing user narratives in dialogue with spatial simulation while making each source’s evidentiary limits explicit. For heritage practice, the findings suggest treating communal programming, sequential thresholds, and the precinct edge as linked but distinct identity-bearing concerns.