The Role of University in Local Cultural Development Through Vernacular Architectural Conservation Education: The Case of Havran, Turkey

Abstract

Since the beginning of 20th century, vernacular settlements are under severe threats of losing authenticity and ruin due to changes in human lifestyles, forms of production and worldwide economic developments. Especially in small rural towns, lack of care and abandonment related to loss of young population is causing rapid deterioration of the vernacular heritage. In such towns, safeguarding is possible through initiatives of local authorities. However, as visionary as the authorities may be, knowledge on sustainable conservation of vernacular architecture is a very specific topic of expertise. At this point, the academic knowledge and experience of universities take on a new significance. Furthermore, collaboration between academia and local authorities carry great potential for each party. A similar cooperation between Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and the Local Municipality of Havran, which was inscribed as an urban protected area in the national register in 1995, started with a protocol signed in November 2011. Between 2012 and 2019, extensive surveys were carried out in urban protect-ed area and restoration projects of over 30 traditional buildings were completed by the graduate stu-dents. Some of these buildings are approved by the local council for the conservation of cultural prop-erty and one of which was restored to be used as a town and memory museum. The aim of this study is to discuss the outcome of experiences acquired from the collaboration between universities and local authorities in the past 10 years. Moreover, mutual benefit of interaction between academia, local community, and the municipality will be emphasized. The cultural heritage preserva-tion activities in Havran have an impact on local cultural development in terms of safeguarding the architectural heritage and creating awareness in the community, as well as making a significant contri-bution to the vernacular heritage conservation education.