Mastering the conquered space : resurrection of urban life in Ottoman upper Thrace (14th - 17th c)

Abstract

This dissertation examines several cases of urban development in the Ottoman Balkans aiming to demonstrate the existence of an established Ottoman model for urban modification and creation of new towns. Focusing on the morphology of four towns rebuilt or established from scratch the dissertation finds a normative pattern in the methods applied by the Ottomans in reclaiming urban space in the conquered territories. The Ottoman central power and the semi-autonomous border raider commanders in the Balkans applied a program for changing of the inherited spatial in order in the Byzantino-Slavic cities in the Balkans through a conscious attempt for shifting of the existing urban core away of the fortified parts. The concept for changing of the spatial order through architectural patronage has followed a long evolutionary path and certainly predates the Ottoman state. The T-shaped multifunctional imaret/zaviyes used in the Ottoman urban program as colonizers of urban space constitute the important novelty that came into being in Ottoman Bithynia and was subsequently transferred to the Balkans.