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II. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND URBAN LANDSCAPES: RE-THINKING THE FUTURE OF THE CITIES AND URBAN LANDSCAPES, Konya, Turkey, 26 - 27 October 2023, pp.133, (Summary Text)
The formation of Eskişehir's urban industrial landscape started with the passing of the Istanbul-Baghdad railway through Eskişehir at the end of the 1800s and continued with the declaration of Eskişehir as one of the first industrialized cities of the country in the Early Republican period. The main nucleus of Eskişehir urban industrial landscape is shaped near the station. Nevertheless, in time, the area remained in the city centre and after 1980, the factory structures were abandoned since the industry started to move to the organized industrial zone outside the city. The area is now known as the “Old Factories Region” among local people. According to the actual zoning plan, the region directly connects the traditional centre of the city and the proposed sub-centre in the West. Due to its central location and its standing on the development axis, the industrial landscape has been under the heavy pressure of new construction. The Region was partly protected by the “Factory Region Conservation Area” announced in 2010. However, in 2014, the boundaries of the conservation area were modified and the physical integrity of the Region was severely impaired. In this respect, the aim of this study is first to demonstrate the effects of the development pressure on the Old Factories Region’s physical integrity, and then to discuss the protection of industrial landscapes through the Turkish conservation legislation. The changes in the Region’s physical texture between 1956-2023 are demonstrated by comparative figure-ground analyses. For the analyses, the 1956 zoning plan and the aerial photographs of the period, the 1984 map, the 2006, and 2023 satellite images were used. It is concluded that the characteristic texture of the study area changed dramatically between 1956-2023 and the national conservation legislation could not draw sufficient framework in order to provide physical integrity.
Keywords: Urban industrial landscape, industrial heritage, physical integrity, Old Factories Region, Eskişehir