The world heritage cities in the third millennium and integrated strategies for managing change in the historic urban landscapes: interpreting the case of Sultanahmet Archaeological Park in Istanbul's historic peninsula

ASLI ZEREN POLITECNICO DI MILANO DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE, 27TH CYCLE THE WORLD HERITAGE CITIES IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM AND INTEGRATED STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING CHANGE IN THE HISTORIC URBAN LANDSCAPES: INTERPRETING THE CASE OF SULTANAHMET ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK IN ISTANBUL’S HISTORIC PENINSULA ABSTRACT Today conservation and management of urban heritage became more difficult, complicated and overwhelming due to uncontrolled urbanisation, mass tourism, globalisation, limited resources and population growth as a result of migration and industrialisation. In today’s global world, cities are changing, evolving and so is heritage understanding. These constant and rapid changes in urban dynamics force us to recognise and understand this complex environment in a broader context for effectively managing change with sustainable solutions to the challenges ahead. New management approaches are being designed for an improved understanding of current mechanisms and for better integrating urban heritage conservation into strategies of socio-economic development in the region. It is stated on the UNESCO reports that today, historic cities constitute the largest heritage ‘category’ on the World Heritage List, with over 250 inscribed sites out of more than 900. So in order to develop and design appropriate policy framework and principles The World Heritage Committee showed a considerable effort to identify and analyse the threats and challenges for the urban heritage conservation. During the second half of the 20th century dozens of charters and conventions were developed in order to safeguard and effectively manage the heritage while adapting the changing circumstances. Historic Urban Landscape approach, which was presented to the State Parties in 2011 as a recommended approach to urban heritage conservation, invites the State Parties to include all the aspects of conservation principles and practices in an integrated framework. Its main objective is to design urban conservation strategies which respect the values and recognise the multi-layered character of the urban environment together with the natural, social and economic aspects while using heritage as a catalyst for sustainable development. The HUL approach is not designed to replace existing principles or conservation approaches, but rather it is a tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment with natural heritage. It aims to create a common platform where all the parties and the stakeholders cooperate and actively participate in the management process with higher sensitivity to natural, social and economic aspects in order to provide a better management of the historic sites. This research tries to apply the HUL model on the selected World Heritage site while analysing the current management approaches and challenges to safeguard the integrity and authenticity of its heritage context. It starts with the historical background and an overall analysis of the current management of the Historic Areas of Istanbul and Sultanahmet Archaeological Park World Heritage Site, then through focusing on the three chosen sites within this World Heritage Site, namely the Four Seasons Hotel Extension over the remains of the Great Palace of Constantinople, the remains of the Church of St. Euphemia and the reconstruction of the now extinct building of Hagia Sophia Madrasa, the historic building complexes which form a triangle within the urban archaeological site of Sultanahmet Archaeological Park, the research will try to reflect the complex (dis)management of urban heritage in a World Heritage City and will be searching for ideas to formulate appropriate management measures for the sustainable conservation of historic cities in development. The research aims to analyse current approach to policy making in order to discuss weak and strong points of existing management structure and coordination in the selected World Heritage City. The analysis will assess changes and modifications to existing structure as well as to review appropriateness of any proposed changes according to the international legislation and the recommendations of the UNESCO. Moreover, it aims to provide a solid basis for further research on development of management strategies for conservation of the built environment and urban development in a World Heritage Site.