Investigation of Urban İdentity-Urban Memory Relationship in New Buildings: The Case of Elazig
Authors: SARIŞIN Şeyma , ÖZBUDAK AKÇA Berivan 
Published: August 2022

Diversity of lifestyles, social relations; historical, economic and social developments are concrete examples of the image of the city reflected to the present day. In our country, which has a deep-rooted history, historical structures that enable us to examine the traces of the past holistically have undergone different transformations and changes over time. This transformation-change process, which he affected in social events, formed social memory and urban memory over time. However, this existing “urban memory” has undergone many changes in the recent past and has reflected the historical-cultural-spatial conditions of the period of changes. However, the existing historical-cultural-spatial situation could not maintain its continuity today.

Although the usual "urban memory" has not been completely destroyed since the Republican period, a new "urban memory" has not been fully formed in this short period of time. Especially the rapid migration from the village to the city has increased the need for housing in the cities, and this has led to the rapid emergence of multi-storey buildings in the cities. One of the provinces most affected by the development of urban life is Elazig. The "Harput" settlement, which dates back to BC, is the first settlement area of the city. However, this region has begun to be abandoned over time due to many factors. Later, the city center shifted towards the “El-Aziz” region, which was used as a plain in the past. The relocation of the city center affected the new constructions over time and the old "Harput city", which had a place in the memories, took on a new identity with the increase of multi-storey buildings. Especially the 2020 Elazig earthquake caused great destruction in the city, many houses in the city center were demolished and new constructions started. "Harput Urban Memory", which has a deep-rooted history that could not be continued before the earthquake, is being tried to be applied in earthquake houses.

In this study, in the reconstruction of historical reality, when questions such as "how the past leaves a trace" and "what it means" are taken into account, the correspondences of urban space in social memory, the similarities and differences between the past and the past have been made through the example of Elazig. In the study, the oral history documentation method was used by investigating the correspondence of the space in urban memory, with an approach in which oral information is evaluated as data. The importance of the relationship between the spatial elements that give identity to the city and the urban memory has been discussed. In this direction, voice recordings were made by interviewing 10 people over the age of 65 who witnessed that period in the Harput region, the first settlement of the city. Thus, the information recorded in the individual memory of the citizens was analyzed. In addition, determinations were made with old images of the city taken from magazines and newspapers. Then, how the data obtained in the light of these determinations was used in the said TOKİ constructions was discussed on the basis of urban memory and urban identity. The aim of the study is to investigate how the longed-for "Harput City" affects the memory of the city and how it is used in new constructions. The aim of the questioning is to explain the historical-cultural-spatial continuity, especially how this deep-rooted history of the city of Harput, which has been used as a trade city from the Uyghurs, who formed the "historical memory" of Elazig, to the present day, and how long it can be sustained in the future.

The fact that only one of the two different Toki settlements has similarities with traditional "Harput houses" raises questions such as to what extent it meets the needs of the Elazig family structure. It is thought that the study will form a basis for future studies that will answer these questions. As a result, it should be essential to include the physical environment, which is effective in the shaping of memory and the construction of the future of society, into the city with a "correct" architectural relationship. As a result, it is hoped that more careful, conscious and sensitive studies will be designed by considering the social costs of public projects.