Faculty of Architecture

I would like to thank the people who helped me to write this thesis. First of all, I want to thank my supervisor, Assist. Prof. Dr. Beril Ozmen Mayer, for her valuable guidance and advice and also I want to thank my spouse Kasra Talebian for his help. Big thanks to my family for supporting me all these years, and also I want to thank my friends Rozhano Azimi Hashemi and Yashar Mohamadi who helped me and always be by my side.

Information Systems (GIS) environment to evaluate the suitability for landfill site in Northern Cyprus. To determine the most suitable landfill site, one of the MCE techniques is called Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was combined with a GIS to examine 12 criteria:

Walls play an important role in the spatial configuration of cities. In addition to being one of the main factors or components in the configuration of spatial structure, a wall can also be assigned various intangible social meanings. Multiplicity of walls in many cases especially in partitioned or divided cities, have been studied by many scholars. Nicosia, the capital of the island of Cyprus can best be interpreted with the use of the words: walls, division, buffer zone, green line, destruction, and re-connection. The main aim of this paper is, first, to discuss and interpret the two walls (hard borders) of Nicosia-the historic walls and the buffer zone. Second, the role of these walls with respect to the issue of forming a border will be investigated throughout the partitioning process of the city. Additionally, the paper will try to identify the changing meaning and interpretation of these walls with respect to the two major ethnic communities, who are divided within the city.

The well-being and satisfaction of citizens and visitors are strongly influenced by the image of a city or place, to which monumental or iconic buildings have a great contribution. The paper aims to discuss the influence of iconic architecture through creating identifiable images on Quality of life. The paper, firstly, puts forward very briefly the concepts of City Identity and Branding with an emphasis on city image, which is limited to the contribution of iconic buildings. Secondly, the paper discusses the contribution of iconic buildings through their meaning in terms of the image of the city to QOL.

Cyprus, as the third biggest island in the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, is situated in the cross-road of the east-west and north-south navigation routes and it was ruled by many different conquors throughout centuries. Through its long, rich, unique and turbulent history, it enjoys the opportunity to house many remarkable remains of historical, architectural and cultural heritage. The main aim of this paper is to make a thorough investigation on the cultural heritage values of the Northern part of Cyprus, which has been under the rule of Turkish community since 1974, when the Island was divided into two parts – Turks living in the North and Greeks living in the South. With this aim in mind, the paper firstly will evaluate cultural heritage in terms of its definition, various types, value and meaning in general. Since the main concern is on the tangible cultural heritage, the discussion will be deeper on this type of cultural heritage. Secondly, the paper will turn to...

Historic urban areas are the beating heart of the city, but neglecting them can lead to low resilience. Therefore, paying attention to their regeneration can create a sustainable city. The purpose of this study was to determine the resilience of neighborhoods in Tehran and evaluate effective criteria for the resilience increase. In this study, to evaluate the resilience of Tehran, initially, 18 criteria were considered. Then, using the Delphi technique, 14 criteria among them were selected for final analysis. Using the AHP multi-criteria decision-making method, the importance of each criterion was determined. Using GIS capabilities, the parameters map was prepared, and by combining the prepared maps with AHP weights, a resilience map was created. Finally, 20 neighborhoods with the lowest resilience were identified as priorities for stabilization and regeneration measures, and the criteria status used in them was examined. Results showed that deteriorated urban areas (19.53%) and con...

The research study utilizes Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) method in geographic information systems (GIS) environment and uses MCE suitability maps with Cellular Automata (CA) for predicting and simulating sustainable urban development scenarios in Famagusta City. It represents first scenario-based simulations of the future growth of Famagusta as “do-nothing” and “sustainable”. Under the do-nothing scenario, Markov Chain probability analysis with CA models is used with temporal land-use/cover datasets based on the images from 2002 and 2011. It shows that, Famagusta City is moving away from sustainable development. Future expansion of both medium-density and low-density urban zones are always located around existing built-up urban area along transportation lines. A similar model is employed by applying sustainable urban development policies by the policy driven scenario. As a main goal, sustainable urban development includes three main criteria, compactness, environmental protection...

The recent discussion regarding contemporary urban regeneration has underlined the increasing role of art and cultural agglomeration as an essential part of a progressive agenda for local development. In fact, there is a good deal of literature which is related to specific and finite cultural strategies. Although scholars, in some cases, may suggest other perspectives, their value narrows to a comprehensive evaluation regarding the possible interpretation of cultural agglomeration in respect of urban regeneration. Accordingly, this study, by using an interdisciplinary systemic approach based on the clustering of cultural carriers, developed the cultural strategies under a six concepts scheme. The study then, through developing a method based on modes and development approach of cultural agglomeration, recategorized the six mentioned strategies into three major categories of cultural strategies, to find out their contribution in the process of urban regeneration. Overall, the study revealed the extent of cultural agglomeration as a method of developing cultural strategies in urban regeneration.

Urban public spaces are the spatial nexus of social interactions, activities, and expressions. Society manifests itself within these spaces through different lenses such as cultures and norms. The framework and restrictions related to gender-based behavior play a central role in the discourse about inclusivity and equity in urban public spaces when viewed through these lenses. There is, however, a gap in the literature that addresses how culture and gender influence public space behaviors and intentions within a traditional and modern cultural framework. The current study tests whether culture correlates with public space behavior on a neighborhood scale. A comparative study was conducted between two distinct neighborhoods in the city of Kerman, Iran. The two cases were selected due to their significant differences in how women use and interact with urban space. The effects of gender differences and perceived constraints on how residents manifest their behavior in public spaces were...

Historic urban centers (HUCs) having distinct physical, social, economic and symbolic meanings are faced with various challenges which call for urgent actions in many countries, including those in the Mediterranean basin which the cradle of western civilization. Parallel to the changes in the conservation attitudes at both local and global levels, in many cities in the world in general and in the Mediterranean region in particular, policies which incorporate the physical, social and economic assets, to revitalize the HUCs have been developed and implemented. Most frequently, international documents and conventions set the basis for these local policies. However, literature survey reveals that resulting outcomes of the implementation of these policies have not always been successful due to the lack of linkage between policies, techniques, people, culture, the environment and the economy. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to bring some proposals for the conservation and revit...