Taş Kömürü Kimliği ve İki Kentin Endüstri Mirasına Bakışı; Zonguldak ve Essen Üzerine Bir Karşılaştırma

İki Kent ve Taş Kömürü Kimliği

Abstract

Urban identity is mostly defined through the special characteristic features of cities that help them to be differentiated from the other cities. It might be transformed due to the change of these features in time. The urban identity of the coal mining cities is shaped by this mine because in addition to its effect on the socio-cultural, political, spatial and economical aspects on the cities, the effects of architecture in terms of industrial buildings -such as factories, ateliers, warehouses, coal washers, and also the guesthouses, mass housing examples- are strong elements that shapes the city. The study investigates Zonguldak and Essen, two cities which share a similar urban development history through coal mine. The study also claims that there is transformation in the urban identity of these cities for the last decades. So, the study aims to figure out this transformation in time and understand the reasons behind this transformation. Here, the goal of the study is to explain the current situation of the identity of the two cities after explaining the reasons and the way the cities differ in terms of their urbanization agenda. A historical and comparative analysis is conducted in order to understand the common urban development histories of the above-mentioned cities. As a result of this analysis, it is understood that these cities are developed in a similar way especially in the first half of the 20th century but by the end of that century the relationship of the cities with coal mining industry got weakened. The study which is based on a qualitative case study approach by the help of a literature review focusing on both primary and secondary, national and international sources. In this way, both these cases are investigated within the context of this study. In order to understand and put emphasis on the important topics in this research, an in-depth interview with the mayor of Zonguldak is conducted. The first part of this study is the theoretical framework that investigates the concept of urban identity and the potentials of its’ transformation. Second part concentrates on the conservation of the industrial heritage and the adaptive reuse of the industrial buildings. Adaptive reuse of industrial buildings is a pivotal approach to shed light on the industrial heritage of the cities. Adaptive reuse projects show evidences of the history of architecture, they give us the idea of the materials and the construction technologies of time periods. They also give the idea of the way people work, dwell, socialize, etc. in that particular period of time. That’s why adaptive reuse is such a suitable approach for the protection of the abandoned industrial buildings. The adaptive reuse perspective of Essen is so successful that it shows the evidences of the industrial heritage of the city and makes the old urban identity of the city apparent even though it is transformed. On the other side, it is not possible to claim the adaptive reuse politics of Zonguldak is as successful as Essen even though they share a similar urban development history in terms of coal mining. But the interview with the mayor that uses the benefits of the oral history methodology and the newspaper news are promising new adaptive reuse projects for Zonguldak as important steps for the conservation of the buildings and the urban identity of the city. So, the third part of the study focuses on the urban dwelling backgrounds of these two cities in a historiographic way to be able to read their coal mining stories in a comparative way. This part questions the similarities and differences of the urban identity of this two examples and looks into their adaptive reuse of the industrial heritage approaches to understand the effect of adaptive reuse on the transformation. In sum, the study that tries to understand if a change in the identity of a city is possible shows that the urban identity of Zonguldak and Essen whose urban histories are similar in different geographies are being transformed in different ways because of the different political approaches of the countries on the coal mining industry. It is understood that the loss and the differentiation of the unique and authentic characteristics of the cities cause a transformation in the urban identity of a city. When two cities are compared it is realized that a holistic urban planning approach in Germany supported with adaptive reuse, feeds the potential of Essen both in socio-cultural, economic and touristic aspects. But in the case of Turkey, there is not a similar evaluation where it might be beneficial for the construction of the urban identity of Zonguldak. Therefore, in this study, further researches focusing on that specific subject related with Zonguldak are suggested.