Rural heritage places are social, cultural, economic and natural environments shaped according to the habitat in which they are located. Thus, they are unique places where people and natural environment are in constant interaction. However, rural heritage places in Turkey, face with various problems similar to those in the world such as depopulation, changes in policies for agricultural production and excessive cultural tourism.
In the panel; complex physical, social and economic structure of rural heritage places and the problems that they are faced with today will be discussed with reference to three different villages from different regions of Turkey. The selected rural heritage places for this study are Kemer in Aegean Region, Taşkale in Central Anatolia Region and Gaziköy in Thrace. These three cases are selected as the representatives of rural heritage places in Turkey with different contexts and diverse conservation issues due to their differing natural, architectural, social and economic features, values and problems.
Kemer is a continuously settled village with very well-preserved physical environment which is currently under the threat of being abandoned due to decrease in economic income based on agricultural production. On the contrary, Gaziköy (Ganos) represents the villages where the rural life and production is very well preserved while physical environment is under the threat of being damaged both due to continuous use as well as strict conservation policies. Taşkale preserves its physical environment as well as its inhabitants. However, due to its spectacular natural and manmade properties, it is defined as a conservation and cultural tourism development area through the top down decisions of the central government and thus lost its rural spirit.
Accordingly, the panel discussion is composed of following presentations:
(i) From Understanding to Action for Conservation and Sustainability of A Rural Heritage Place: Kemer, Turkey
(ii) A Multi-layered Rural Settlement Resisting to Sustain the Rural Habitat: Gaziköy, Turkey
(iii) Contradictions Between Local Values and Top-down Conservation Priorities: Taşkale, Turkey
In the panel, following the presentation of the theme and conceptual framework by the organisers, each case will be explained in detail. The presentations in the panel will firstly introduce the features, values and problems. Eventually, the responses for conservation and sustainability of each of these rural heritage places developed will be presented and discussed
