A Multi-layered Analysis of Urban Topography: Galata District, Istanbul

Year 2021, Volume: 03 Issue: 01, 1 - 18, 30.12.2021

Yasemin Küblü

https://doi.org/10.5505/sjcrp.2021.07379

Abstract

The article investigates ‘urban topography’ as a multi-layered structure by referencing two studies performed by John Ruskin (Modern Painters, Volume IV of V, 1856) and Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (Mont Blanc, 1876). Modern Painters Volume IV of V and Le Massif du Mont Blanc were focused on the structural anatomy of the mountainous landscapes of the Alps in Switzerland. The main idea of these studies was 'the necessity of analyzing anatomy to understand the surface form of the earth'. In this article, the viewpoint generated on the structural anatomy of mountains is applied to urban topography in two categories: ‘The natural topography’ and ‘the human topography’ to be analyzed in three layers regarding the complex nature of the city: ‘the ground, the underground and the underwater’. The aim is to reach a comprehensive urban topographical depiction of the city as a whole in the 21st century, together with its overlooked physical realities. Galata district in Istanbul (Turkey) is decided as the case area due to its multi-layered urban structure that is in a continuous accumulation since ancient times. Analyses are performed with topographical mapping, urban sections and urban diagrams by overlapping of current satellite images, historical maps and urban plan of Galata.

Keywords

Urban Topography, Galata, Istanbul, Ruskin, Viollet-le-Duc

Kent Topoğrafyası Üzerine Çok Katmanlı Bir Değerlendirme: Galata - İstanbul Örneği

Abstract

Bu çalışma ‘kent topoğrafyası’nı çok katmanlı bir yapı olarak, John Ruskin (Modern Painters, Volume IV of V, 1856) ve Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (Le Massif du Mont Blanc, 1876) tarafından gerçekleştirilen iki çalışmayı referans alarak incelemektedir. Modern Painters Volume IV of V ve Le Massif du Mont Blanc, İsviçre Alpleri’nin dağ peyzajının yapısal anatomisi üzerine odaklanmıştır. Bu araştırmaların ana fikri ‘yeryüzünün yüzey formlarının anlaşılabilmesi için, öncelikle anatomilerinin incelenmesinin gerektiği’ düşüncesidir.

Dağların yapısal anatomisi yapısı üzerine belirtilen bakış açısı, bu çalışmada kent topoğrafyasına aktarılarak, ‘doğal topoğrafya’ ve ‘beşeri topoğrafya’ bölümleri altında ve kentin karmaşık yapısına ilişkin olarak üç katman halinde incelenmiştir: ‘yer, yeraltı ve sualtı’. Amaç, kentin 21. yüzyılda, göz önünde bulundurulmayan fiziksel gerçeklikleri ile birlikte, bir bütün olarak kapsamlı bir kent topoğrafyası tasvirine ulaşabilmektir. Çalışma alanı olarak, antik dönemlerden itibaren süregelen çok katmanlı yapısından dolayı İstanbul’un Galata yerleşimi seçilmiştir. Analizler topoğrafik haritalamalar, kentsel kesitler ve diyagramlar üzerinden gerçekleştirilmiş olup, güncel uydu görüntüleri, tarihi haritalar ve Galata kent planı ile desteklenmiştir.

Keywords

Kent Topoğrafyası, Galata, İstanbul, Ruskin, Viollet-le-Duc

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