Effects of Cittaslow Movement on Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Case of Seferihisar & Halfeti, Turkey

Civil Engineering and Architecture 5(3): 71-82, 2017 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/cea.2017.050301 Effects of Cittaslow Movement on Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Case of Seferihisar & Halfeti, Turkey Müjgan Karatosun, Deniz Çakar* Department of Architecture, Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey Copyright©2017 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract Considerations related to the definition of The evolution related to the meaning of cultural heritage cultural heritage have been changed importantly in historical has deeply influenced the bases of updated urban movements. period. In the past, the concept of heritage was in the scope of In this research, Cittaslow that is an urban movement which conservation considered with its monumental value. But in has adopted the philosophy of “slowness” has been discussed. time its cultural and identity value has started to be discussed. An important point that Miele has emphasized is that the aim Cultural heritage has started to be considered integrated with of Cittaslow movement is not directly related to conservation its environment after the many ideas were established in of cultural heritage. The aim is to provide solutions to the years and the necessity of the continuation of the "cultural effects of industrialization on local values in a world that is in identity" concept has been taken importance. Cittaslow a modernization process [2]. movement is an internationally recognized movement and aims to transform cities into places of high quality. The aim of this article is to evaluate the impacts of Cittaslow 2 . Conservation of Cultural Heritage as movement on integrative conservation of cultural heritage. a Part of International Documents Within this framework, international conservation documents are examined to follow the development process Accurate conservation of inheritance of the humanity is of integrative conservation of cultural heritage as a new possible by defining the context of cultural heritage and approach. In the research, two Cittaslow settlement of determining conservation methods. From this perspective, Turkey named Seferihisar and Halfeti have been studied. By new terms and various concepts about conservation were taking into consideration projects developed after the accepted on international scale. While in the first half of the membership within the scope of conservation, direct and 20th century, the term of ‘heritage’ was used for the indirect effects of Cittaslow movement on conservation of conservation of single scaled historic buildings; in the cultural heritage have been revealed. The types, contents and second half, the framework of the conservation discipline situations of actualization of these projects have been taken had expanded with the occurrence of the term ‘cultural into consideration as determinants. heritage’ [3]. In this way, cultural heritage has proceeded to include different scaled built heritages and site areas Cittaslow Movement, Cultural Heritage, Keywords integratively. It can be mentioned that current definition and Integrated Conservation methods within conservation cultural heritage, took their shapes after this expansion of meaning that has occurred at the end of the 20th century. Within this period, the concept of heritage went from single scale to an integrative approach 1 . Introduction and shifted from a tangible dimension to an intangible one (Figure 1). The development process of the concept of cultural Upon examining the development of terms about heritage heritage can be examined in three phases. In the first phase, on the international documents, it can be seen that it was the aspect of “monument” has changed from singularity into expressed only as monuments and historic sites up until integrity and has begun to be discussed with environmental 1950s. However, in 1954, with the Hague Convention, it context. In the second phase, the concept of “cultural initially took its place under the term ‘cultural assets’. heritage” has been aroused. In the third phase, spiritual Accordingly, the definition of cultural assets not only properties of heritage have been discussed except physical included monuments and historic sites but also fabric of properties [1]. traditional built heritage and historical squares [4]. One of 72 Effects of Cittaslow Movement on Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Case of Seferihisar & Halfeti, Turkey the most efficient international charters which play an heritage’ and also ‘natural heritage’ for the first time. In this important role for the development of current conservation way, the definition of cultural heritage was expanded to approach is the Venice Charter (1964), where the definition include the physical texture and landscaping of places [6]. of heritage started to take place on an urban scale [5]. During this decade, the Declaration of Amsterdam (1975) Another important document is UNESCO Convention was a further important document that widens perspectives Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural by providing an integrative approach to the conservation of Heritage (1972), which defined heritage as being ‘cultural built cultural heritage with its environment [7]. Figure 1. International conservation documents Civil Engineering and Architecture 5(3): 71-82, 2017 73 Referring to international documents, only the parallel to the developments in technology, which enables conservation of physical aspects of cultural heritage was the speed of daily living to increase causing the taken into account until the 1980s. Since 1980s, cultural worthlessness of cultural values. This situation brought along heritage has begun to be discussed in terms of intangible the uniformed environments, which moved further away values and ‘the spirit of place’ and ‘cultural identity’ arose as from uniqueness and societies which focus on mass new concepts. It can be said that the ICOMOS Deschambault production and consumption. This loss of identity in Charter for the Preservation of Quebec’s Heritage (1982) settlements has been the subject in international documents that emphasized heritage is not only related to built as ‘globalization’ and its effects on tangible and intangible environment but also with geography and the human factors cultural heritage were mentioned therein. is the precursor document for such an approach [8]. Other As a result of the loss of cultural identity in settlements, documents that has mentioned the importance of locality on various social movements emerged as alternative approaches. conservation of cultural heritage are ICOMOS Washington These movements brought local identity and cultural values Charter on the conservation of Historic Towns and Urban to the forefront as against the problem of standardization. Areas (1987), which emphasizes both substantial and Amongst public opinion, the movement that created a great spiritual dimensions of characteristics of historical urban impression with its philosophy is the ‘slow movement’. The areas [9] and UNESCO Popular and Traditional Cultural ‘Cittaslow’ that is examined in this research, has adopted the Protection Recommendation (1989), which defines the term philosophy of slow movement and purpose to bring its of ‘intangible cultural heritage’ as the totality of approaches in urban scale. tradition-based creations of a cultural community [10]. ICOMOS Nara Document on Authenticity (1994), ICOMOS the Burra Charter (1999) and UNESCO 3. Cittaslow Movement in the Context of Convention for the Safeguarding of The Tangible Cultural Conservation of Cultural Heritage Heritage (2003) are considerable documents in bringing Industrialization has provided technological advances, integrated approach to the conservation of tangible and created opportunities in communication and infused societies intangible cultural heritage. While Nara Document on into fast lifestyles that enabled standardization among Authenticity has emphasized the significance of the term cultures. Although this is a necessity of our era and has many ‘spirit of place’ as an intangible value [11], the Burra Charter benefits, its side effects on many dimensions are also has established a relation between ‘locality’ and ‘culture’ [12] discussed. Briefly, abolishing the relation between place and and Convention for the Safeguarding of the Tangible action and causing the risk of extinction of local values by Cultural Heritage has mentioned ways for safeguarding worldwide spread global culture can be described these side survival of cultural heritage [13]. Yamato Declaration (2004) effects on conservation of cultural heritage. brought up a new approach by pointing that there is no need The purpose of Cittaslow movement is to present a high for the human factor on conservation of tangible cultural quality life style by resisting against loss of identity which heritages. However, the conservation of intangible can be arises as a result of monotonous life styles of the societies in achieved by the preservation of the living spaces of locals the globalized world and losing the identity as a result of [14]. Further significant international document is ICOMOS losing cultural values. According to Honoré [16], the aim of Charter of Quebec (2008) the term ‘spirit of place’ was the movement is not to act against capitalism but to add to it a deeply examined as a matter of cultural sustainability. As the human factor instead. He also

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