Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework

Özlem Kevseroğlu; İrem Yaşar; Vildan Yıldırım

doi:10.31127/tuje.1967989

Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework

Abstract

Urban transformation processes not only destroy the physical fabric of historic neighbourhoods but also erode the collective memory and everyday life practices embedded within them. This study addresses this spatial memory loss by employing generative AI to visually reconstruct the lost atmospheres of Cumhuriyet Neighbourhood within the outer walls of Kayseri Castle, Turkey. Drawing on oral history interviews conducted as part of a TÜBİTAK-funded project, narrative data from 5 former residents were transformed into structured seven-category prompts and fed into Google Gemini- Nano Banana 2 pro, OpenAI GPT-Image-1, and XAI Grok. A 30-member residents panel evaluated the outputs. Tool G (Google Gemini) achieved the best overall ranking (M = 1.77). The findings confirm that human curatorial oversight and iterative community feedback remain essential for culturally authentic AI-generated heritage visualisations.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK

Project Number

TÜBİTAK / 3501 - KARIYER GELISTIRME PROGRAMI / 224K906

Ethical Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethics committee approval was obtained from Abdullah Gül University Ethics Committee (Approval No. E-23934413-050.04-113716). All participants provided informed written consent before participation.

Thanks

This study was funded by TÜBİTAK; we would like to thank the organisation for its support. We would also like to thank the city residents who took part in the interviews conducted as part of this study, as well as those who completed the questionnaire. The preliminary findings of this study were presented at the 9th International Conference on Current Issues in Architecture and Urban Planning. Our article has been submitted for consideration for publication in your journal; I would like to thank you in advance for your review.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Architectural Engineering

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Özlem Kevseroğlu ^*
0000-0003-1828-2256
Türkiye

İrem Yaşar
0000-0003-3725-6010
Türkiye

Vildan Yıldırım
0009-0000-3858-0176
Türkiye

Publication Date

October 16, 2026

Submission Date

June 25, 2026

Acceptance Date

July 24, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 10 Number: 4

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1967989

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA67LF98HX

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Kevseroğlu, Ö., Yaşar, İ., & Yıldırım, V. (2026). Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework. Turkish Journal of Engineering, 10(4), 1667-1676. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1967989

AMA

1.Kevseroğlu Ö, Yaşar İ, Yıldırım V. Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework. TUJE. 2026;10(4):1667-1676. doi:10.31127/tuje.1967989

Chicago

Kevseroğlu, Özlem, İrem Yaşar, and Vildan Yıldırım. 2026. “Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory With Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework”. Turkish Journal of Engineering 10 (4): 1667-76. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1967989.

EndNote

Kevseroğlu Ö, Yaşar İ, Yıldırım V (October 1, 2026) Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework. Turkish Journal of Engineering 10 4 1667–1676.

IEEE

[1]Ö. Kevseroğlu, İ. Yaşar, and V. Yıldırım, “Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework”, TUJE, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 1667–1676, Oct. 2026, doi: 10.31127/tuje.1967989.

ISNAD

Kevseroğlu, Özlem - Yaşar, İrem - Yıldırım, Vildan. “Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory With Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework”. Turkish Journal of Engineering 10/4 (October 1, 2026): 1667-1676. https://doi.org/10.31127/tuje.1967989.

JAMA

1.Kevseroğlu Ö, Yaşar İ, Yıldırım V. Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework. TUJE. 2026;10:1667–1676.

MLA

Kevseroğlu, Özlem, et al. “Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory With Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework”. Turkish Journal of Engineering, vol. 10, no. 4, Oct. 2026, pp. 1667-76, doi:10.31127/tuje.1967989.

Vancouver

1.Özlem Kevseroğlu, İrem Yaşar, Vildan Yıldırım. Reconstructing Lost Urban Memory with Generative AI: An Oral-History Prompt-Engineering Framework. TUJE. 2026 Oct. 1;10(4):1667-76. doi:10.31127/tuje.1967989