Last castles of the transforming cities in Turkey: "Mahalle" as an urban structure since the Ottoman period

Abstract

This paper focuses on the case of “mahalle” which is a special kind of neighborhood in Turkey, in terms of spatial and social movements in the context of urban transformation of the country. Mahalle has important effects on urban morphology and sociology since the Ottoman period. It has been either a structural part of the urban morphology or social and cultural organizer of the society. These roles and the meaning of mahalle have recently been changing in favor of global dynamics in the transforming cities. The aim of this paper is to emphasize “mahalle” with its rich potentials and opportunities come through its history. Different districts were chosen from İstanbul as case studies in order to analysis these opportunities and challenges. The results show that, mahalle is still alive and has important roles on urban morphology and urban life as a physical and social unit, while on the other hand it is on the way to be lost.