Elif AKPINAR KÜLEKÇİ
Özlem Burcu AKSOY
Işık SEZEN
Abstract
Historical Structure and Environments (HSE) are significant cultural assets which have historical, artistic and regional values and establish a bridge between past and present. HSE significantly affect the identity of a city they take place. Because of their such characteristics, they need to be protected, sustained and transferred from generation to generation. Kars, determined to be study area, is a city located in the east of Turkey, and has hosted many civilizations for centuries thus enriching its cultural structure with historical buildings. In the study, carried out to analyze the visual quality of some HSE in the city of Kars and its surroundings, Visual Quality Assessment included in landscape analysis among the landscape planning process stages. In this respect, a photo survey, prepared to make Visual Quality Assessment was applied to 74 students at Atatürk University Architecture and Design Faculty. Results of the survey were analysed through SPSS software.
As the result of the study, it was found that the highest visual quality score was at HSE 5 (Ani Cathedral; 4,39) followed by HSE 4 (Cheltikov Hotel ; 4,07), HSE1 (Katerina Palace; 4,03. One of the Evaluation Criteria (EC 1:4.21), historicity is the criterion that has the highest visual quality score among all departments of Atatürk University Faculty of Architecture and Design. In addition, it was determined in the study that several parameters (being historic, naturalness, spatial identity etc.) are associated significantly with the department of the participant students (P <0.05). With the study, it was concluded that the city of Kars and its surrounding represent high historical, cultural and visual values. Their importance was highlighted in the respect of conservation – utilisation balance and sustainability.
Keywords
Historical structure and surroundings, landscape analysis and inventory, visual quality analysis, Kars, Turkey.
