Renovation of an ancient Bosphorus village: Ortakoy

Abstract

This paper aims to focus on one of the ancient villages on the European side of the Bosphorus: Ortakoy. One of the liveliest of the many settlements lining the two coasts of the Bosphorus, it is a typical stanbouliote residential area consisting of Muslim and non-Muslim communities living together for years. The wittnesses of this heterogeneous social structure are the architectural heritage present in the area. In recent years, Ortakoy has undergone an extensive renovation process due to changes in the political and economic world order; thus while the seashore area of the modest fishers' village of the mid-twentieth century changed from a quite, peaceful neighborhood into a touristic attraction center, the inner parts underwent gentrification. This change reflected itself on the general layout of the area affecting the social, economical and cultural structures of the settlement along with the construction of luxurious dwellings on the upper slopes of Ortakoy.