IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

Cities are shaped not only by buildings, monuments, and official histories, but also by displaced communities whose presence is rarely recognised as heritage. This paper argues that statelessness produces distinctive forms of urban heritage that remain largely invisible within dominant heritage frameworks focused on nationhood, citizenship, and formal recognition. Based on doctoral research combining interviews with displaced Palestinians, analysis of asylum decisions in Britain and France, and historical sources on nationality and displacement, the paper examines how legal exclusion shapes everyday urban life. Statelessness influences where people can live, how neighbourhoods form, and how community spaces emerge. It also affects how cultural memory is preserved and transmitted across generations through language, social practices, and collective narratives tied to place. The central argument is that statelessness is not only a legal condition but an urban and cultural one. While heritage discourse often prioritises permanent structures and national histories, the lived experiences of stateless communities reveal forms of intangible heritage rooted in mobility, survival, and long term displacement. These forms of heritage play a crucial role in shaping the social fabric and future trajectories of cities, even as they remain excluded from planning, conservation, and heritage policy. This paper reframes statelessness from a marginal legal status into a key lens for understanding cultural pasts and urban futures. It challenges who is recognised as a bearer of heritage and calls for more inclusive approaches that take displacement and legal exclusion seriously as central features of contemporary urban life.