Urban regulations in 18th century Istanbul: Natural disasters and public dispute

Abstract

As a part of the Ottoman modernization process, new regulations and institu­tions for urban management started to be established in Istanbul. This paper han­dles the 18th century as an initial period for these urban reforms and studies how the built environment was regulated at the time. The regulations of 18th century which were based on the occasion of natural disasters and public dispute will be evaluated via official archive documents and narratives. 18th century Istanbul’s general urban fabric was formed with organic narrow streets and small timber houses. With the ethno-religious diversity embedded to this picture, the city had a complex and fragile character. Numerous fires caus­ing massive destructions raised a need for precautions. Several orders related to construction systems, building height, size of building elements like eaves and projections were issued. On the other hand, the fact that urban constituents like ownership were not defined clearly in the modern sense made public dispute very common. Apart from the complexity of the built environment, most of the con­flicts arose from the social structure of Istanbul which was comprised of various ethno-religious groups. There was a clear distinction of Muslims and non-Mus­lims in the urban realm as they had different building regulations, until the issu­ing of the Tanzimat Firman. The regulations of the 18th century was based on cases, rather than being com­prehensive generalized rules for the urban fabric and thus had a more proscriptive nature rather than prescriptive. © 2016, Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Faculty of Architecture. All rights reserved.