VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities

Abstract

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Surrounded by thousands years of legacy and multicultural forms, Istanbul’s historical sites are part of the World Heritage List. The Industrial Revolution had shown its effects on Ottoman lands, particularly in the capital city of Istanbul. While there were 256 industrial buildings in the 19th century only 43 of them remain today. The locations of industrial buildings in the city were generally determined by factors such as delivery options of row materials and final products to transportation networks like sea, rail, or highways. The rapid development of the city after the 1950s also had a great impact on the structure of their surroundings in both social and physical senses. Most of Istanbul’s industrial heritage sites are located around the historic centers of the city. Today, more than ever before, with their environmental capital, these are existing buildings with high potential for adaptive reuse. Within the context of urban renaissance, this paper will focus on the catalytic impacts of adaptive reuse in industrial heritage sites, with a case study of Hasanpaşa Gasometer in Istanbul. There is a strong connection between the future of these sites and their integration into public transport, the quality of street scapes they provide, the local community’s participation. The variety of opportunities industrial heritage offer for different local groups may overcome the problem of their lost competitiveness after functional obsolescence. A holistic approach in conservation and urban planning, initially from bottom to top, can play an important role in redefining urban identity over industrial heritage.