Scholarly Publications - Urban Design and Landscape Architecture

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11693/115621

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Open Access
Multiple pathways to urban density: a comparative diachronic analysis of building type transitions across three city centers
(Elsevier Ltd, 2025-12) Tümtürk, Onur
Pursuing built density purely as a quantitative target overlooks how similar density levels can be achieved through different building configurations. This insight calls for a more nuanced understanding of densification - not just how much we densify but how we achieve it through distinct building types. Recent typo-morphological studies have advanced quantitative methods for identifying building types, yet remain predominantly synchronic without insight into long-term evolutionary patterns. This paper presents one of the first attempts to operationalize these methods in a diachronic framework to investigate how building types emerge and influence densification processes across various periods. We hypothesize that cities do not simply become denser uniformly but follow distinct densification pathways through various transitions between building types. Through hierarchical cluster analysis of a novel longitudinal dataset spanning the 1800s–2000s across three international city centers –New York, Melbourne, and Barcelona– we identify seven distinct building types and trace their evolution. Our analysis reveals three fundamental pathways to density: (1) compact densification, where cities fill in available space while maintaining building heights; (2) vertical densification, where building heights increase while maintaining ground coverage; and (3) dispersed densification, where taller buildings are constructed with reduced ground coverage, creating more open space between them. By extending built density measurement into diachronic analysis and combining it with machine learning clustering, we contribute to urban morphometrics with a more time-conscious focus. This methodology enriches transnational urban form comparisons and provides insights into achieving density targets while balancing intensification and environmental sustainability.
Open Access
The impact of plot configuration on the patterns of spatial change: a diachronic approach to the urban redevelopment processes in New York, Melbourne and Barcelona
(Springer, 2025-03-26) Tümtürk, Onur; Hanzl, Małgorzata; Zaguła, Artur; Figlus, Tomasz; Kantarek, Anna Agata; Musiaka, Łukasz
Investigation of the patterns of urban (re)development and identification of the laws behind these processes are critically important to understand how cities evolve under different material conditions. Without denying the effect of socioeconomic, cultural and historical peculiarities, it could be argued that ‘urban form’ itself is also an important aspect guiding future patterns of redevelopment. This research aims to examine morphological conditions created by plot structures and their impact on the patterns of urban redevelopment in three international case studies: Midtown Manhattan (New York), Central Melbourne (Melbourne) and Eixample (Barcelona). Physical changes that occurred in each selected site during identified analysis periods are mapped and measured by relying on a longitudinal geospatial database generated from various cartographic resources. The relationship between patterns of physical change and selected quantitative urban form descriptions of plots (plot size, accessible plot density, plot frontage, accessible plot frontage and accessible plot size diversity) is analysed in a diachronic manner. The empirical investigation indicates that character of plot configuration plays an important role in guiding long-term physical change. Critical discussion of these morphological parameters will contribute to our understanding of urban redevelopment processes and help to achieve resilient and adaptable urban spaces by providing specific design conditions.
Open Access
In pursuit of Whitehand's neighbour effect: uncovering the hidden principles of plot configuration and urban morphogenesis
(International Seminar on Urban Form, 2025-06-05) Tümtürk, Onur
The prevailing understanding of how plots affect change and persistence is primarily derived from a few influential historical-qualitative studies. While the relations between urban form elements have been long emphasised in these studies, empirical research on plots and change relationship has predominantly utilized geometric variables describing individual qualities of plots, namely size and shape. The overlooked neighbour effect hypothesis, proposed by J.W.R. Whitehand, made the relationship between plots more explicit, and attributed their influence on change to the relational character of neighbouring properties. Recent quantitative urban form studies have introduced access-based and configurational plot variables that can be operationalised to better understand the relationship between plot patterns and urban form change. This paper investigates the relationship between plot configuration and patterns of building replacement in Midtown Manhattan from 1890 to 2021 by using a longitudinal morphological database. Employing a quantitative analysis framework, the study compares the performance of geometric and configurational plot measures in explaining building replacement patterns. The findings provide strong empirical support for Whitehand’s neighbour effect hypothesis, suggesting that the propensity for change or persistence is generated by the degree of mutual support and interaction between neighbouring plots rather than their individual character. The study contributes to shifting the focus from plots to plot patterns as a basis for understanding urban form evolution.
Open Access
Compositional and structural evaluation of historic public parks: a design analysis
(MDPI AG, 2025-11-25) Fekete, Albert; Gkoltsiou, Aikaterini; Prusac, Tatjana; Porębska, Agata; Özdemir, Ece Beyza; Taşkın, Aslı; Haleczky, Levente Béla; Komes, Dániel
The article outlined a method to examine the compositional development of some well-known 19th century European public parks with rich historic character. It focused on investigations forming the foundation for a research and design approach ensuring diversity and similarity of the sites, contexts and design problems. Backgrounds and principles that underpin the relation between conservation and development in historical settings of parks are addressed. The survey and comparative analysis of old maps, designs, descriptions and documentation of the current conditions of the investigated parks primarily through remote sensing methods provided an overview of the development and state of preservation of key compositional aspects: spatial structure, design, tree canopy coverage, road and water system, visual connections, dendrological species and forms during the last two centuries. This design analysis approach served as a research method supporting new landscape architecture challenges in conservation and restoration in a changing ecological environment and with new requirements from contemporary planning and design.
Open Access
The grounded projection: a reflective examination of urban design pedagogy at Melbourne School of Design
(Konya Teknik Üniversitesi, Konya Technical University, 2025-12-31) Tümtürk, Onur; Karakiewicz, Justyna; Villoria, Leire Asensio; Mah, David
Urban design education faces unprecedented challenges as ecological emergencies, socio-political risks and technological transitions converge to reshape cities worldwide. These planetary-scale disruptions necessitate pedagogical approaches that prepare future urban designers for fundamentally different professional realities. This paper presents the Master of Urban Design program at the University of Melbourne as a response to these challenges: a grounded projective approach that systematically integrates analytical rigour with speculative imagination across three sequential design studios and a culminating thesis. The paper documents a carefully orchestrated pedagogical journey: students master rule-based design thinking through intensive engagement with urban morphology, design codes, rules and regulations, then collaborate with industry partners to address pressing questions of social equity and public health, before ultimately expanding their temporal vision to envision climate-adapted and technologically augmented urban futures spanning multiple generations. Following this three-design studio sequence, the thesis studio enables students to pursue individual research expertise. Throughout this progression, Melbourne transcends its role as a mere case study to become a genuine living laboratory and a place where students develop profound contextual knowledge. This comprehensive framework demonstrates how systematic spatial-analytical foundations enable rather than constrain imaginative speculation, how individual design expertise can flourish within collaborative frameworks, and how extended temporal thinking can be meaningfully integrated into studio-based education. The program's critical contribution lies in creating space for speculation and projective work by drawing intelligently and creatively from a grounded understanding of urban design practice and enabling students to envision transformative urban futures while maintaining disciplinary rigour.
Open Access
Ambivalent spaces/moving bodies: gender politics of mosque design in Turkey
(Routledge, 2026-01-02) Şenel, Ayşenur; Batuman, Bülent
In recent years, women’s participation in mosques has become asignificant research topic and scholars have scrutinized the spatialaspects of gender segregation in these settings. This paper contrib-utes to this growing body of literature by analyzing five recentlyconstructed mosques in Turkey that have been publicly highlightedas ‘women-friendly’ and stood out for the involvement of womendesigners in their development. We depart from the idea that gen-der segregation is neither an essential attribute of the mosque, norit is fixed: rather, it is spatially produced and open to contestation.While existing scholarship has predominantly focused on howfemale worshippers appropriate mosque spaces, this study addressesa less-explored dimension: the initial production of space and therole of architectural design in shaping, enabling, and contestingpatriarchy. By examining the spatial design and physical character-istics of these mosques, we explore how architecture not onlyreflects but actively influences gendered experiences, affording orlimiting the appropriation of space. Over the past two decades,under the governance of the Islamist Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP) in Turkey, there has been a notable emphasis onencouraging women’s participation in mosques. As a result, specificattention has been given to the design of women’s sections inrecently built mosques. However, we argue that, rather than theareas designed for women to worship, it is the ambivalent spacesof mix-use and circulation inside the mosques that opens room forthe mobility of women as spatial agents.
Open Access
Neoliberalisation through naming: place naming and shifting modes of housing production in Ankara
(Liverpool University Press, 2024-08-19) Bayatlı, Semire; Batuman, Bülent
Place names play an important role in neoliberal urban development. The naming of a housing estate, especially a gated community, is instrumental in constructing the image and intended sense of community of an estate. This paper scrutinises the naming of housing estates in Incek, one of the most prestigious suburbs of Ankara, Turkey. While development in the area began with middle-class housing cooperatives, today Incek is marketed as an idyllic landscape embodying high-rise luxurious gated communities. We show that the naming of the housing estates not only reflects but also contributes to the shift in the mode of production from housing cooperatives to gated communities built and marketed by large-scale companies. Additionally, the name Incek has come to refer to not only the official boundaries of the neighbourhood but a larger territory, which illustrates the unfixed nature of toponyms in terms of location. Finally, the paper shows that there is a reciprocal relationship between the toponym and the image of a particular district, which can affect the functions and activities that flourish within it.
Open Access
Adaptability of everyday planning in urban design practices: self-organization and spontaneous action analysis of Galataport, Istanbul
(Springer Link, 2023-10-03) Korkut, C.; Nalbantoğlu, Oktan
Cities are information systems by its social and physical components. The data of these components create a wider picture in urban texture than it was designed by planners and designer in urban practices. The idea of collecting the data and composing models of spontaneous actions in urban simulations can add different dimensions to planning ideas in social terms and spatial texture. The issue is to find out how these components can be better related with each other to let citizens be urban planners as well up to some level, and what level that would be. The aim of the project is to bring back the social impact of the whole city as linking the hubs of Karaköy and Kabataş through the waterfront, also reawakening the collective memory of the port, by preserving the texture of warehouses form Ottoman Empire. The final outcome would be understanding how effectively project would be able to create the dynamics that have been proposed, and whether there have been other spontaneous actions thought the designed area.
Open Access
Adaptability of everyday planning in urban design practices: self‑organization and spontaneous action analysis of Galataport, Istanbul
(Springer, 2023-10-03) Korkut, C.; Nalbantoğlu, Oktan
Cities are information systems by its social and physical components. The data of these components create a wider picture in urban texture than it was designed by planners and designer in urban practices. The idea of collecting the data and composing models of spontaneous actions in urban simulations can add different dimensions to planning ideas in social terms and spatial texture. The issue is to find out how these components can be better related with each other to let citizens be urban planners as well up to some level, and what level that would be. The aim of the project is to bring back the social impact of the whole city as linking the hubs of Karaköy and Kabataş through the waterfront, also reawakening the collective memory of the port, by preserving the texture of warehouses form Ottoman Empire. The final outcome would be understanding how effectively project would be able to create the dynamics that have been proposed, and whether there have been other spontaneous actions thought the designed area.
Open Access
Claiming the Neo-Ottoman mosque: Islamism, gender, architecture
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) Batuman, Bülent; Raudvere, Catharina; Petek, Onur
This chapter focuses on the gender politics of mosque architecture within the current context of Turkey in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has encouraged the neo-Ottoman idiom. This particular idiom produced distinct ideological meanings within different political contexts. Currently, it serves the absorption of nationalism and the remoulding of the nation-state by the AKP’s Islamism and the making of the Islamic nation—millet. The AKP has also been promoting the mosque as a social space. A significant aspect of this process has been the gradual increase in women’s involvement as users and designers of space, demanding to have a say in the spatial organization of women’s sections in the mosques. The overlap between women’s demands and the governments agenda to endorse mosques also played role in the promotion of neo-Ottoman mosque architecture. The chapter discusses the instrumentalisation of gender politics to legitimise the government’s approach to mosque architecture. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Open Access
The archaeology of Hittite landscapes: A view from the southwestern borderlands
(Penn State University Press, 2022-03-30) Harmanşah, Ömür; Johnson, Peri; Durusu-Tanrıöver, Müge; Marsh, Ben
This article layers material, physical, and textual landscapes of the Hittite Empire in a compact borderland region. We argue that a real strength of landscape archaeology is in understanding and articulating medium-scale landscapes through archaeological survey methods and critical study of physical geography. Medium-scale landscapes are a milieu of daily human experience, movement, and visuality that spawn a densely textured countryside involving settlements, sacred places, quarries, roads, transhumance routes, and water infrastructures. Using the data and the experience from eight field seasons by the Yalburt Yaylası Archaeological Landscape Research Project team since 2010, we offer accounts of three specific landscapes: The Ilgın Plain, the Bulasan River valley near the Hittite fortress of Kale Tepesi, and the pastoral uplands of Yalburt Yaylası. For each, we demonstrate different sets of relationships and landscape dynamics during the Late Bronze Age, with specific emphasis on movement, settlement, taskscapes, land use, and human experience. © 2022 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Open Access
Designing a smart, livable, and sustainable historical city center
(American Society of Civil Engineers, 2022-06-23) Dizdaroğlu, Didem
This study presents a design proposal based on the concept of developing a smart, livable, and sustainable historical city center for Ulus District in Ankara. In recent years, Ulus district has been subjected to a quite radical and irreversible transformation process involving a lot of demolition, reconstruction, and refunction activities. Urban development with such high density has created several problems for the environment, in addition to causing the area to lose its distinctive physical and functional aspects. A holistic approach, accompanied by the support of advanced technologies and their modern applications, appears to be a necessity for achieving the long-term goals of urban sustainability. To this end, this study provides significant insights into ruling local political practices and strategies in order to support policymakers in achieving their local aims on smart city initiatives.
Open Access
Dis-placed: space, settlement, and agency
(Intellect Ltd., 2021-07-01) Batuman, Bülent
This article introduces the special issue ‘Dis-placed’. Questioning the term ‘refugee’ as an identity marker and pointing at the problematic connotations it embodies, the article explores the spatial forms of refugee experience. The knowledge of space, as produced within disciplines such as geography, urban planning, and architecture, is deployed by states to limit the movements of forced migrants across and within national borders. In response, the article calls for social/spatial justice, arguing that this can only be achieved through the blurring of the boundaries between host and refugee identities. The contributions in this special issue present investigations on different facets of the spatiality of forced migration through various disciplinary approaches and methodologies. Taken together, they underline the importance of the link between space and refugee agency in tackling forced migration.
Open Access
Measuring residential sustainability performance: an indexing approach
(Inderscience Publishers, 2019) Dizdaroğlu, Didem
This research investigates the environmental impacts of urban development by developing a parcel-level sustainability assessment tool to guide sustainable urban development. The paper introduces a GIS-based model called the ‘micro-level urban-ecosystem sustainability index (MUSIX)’, which has been designed as a policy-making support tool to highlight key environmental issues at a micro-level, concentrating specifically on residential developments. The model has been tested in a comparative study of Angora Evleri (Angora Houses, Turkey) and East Killara (Australia). Despite certain limitations in its implementation, the results of the study demonstrate that a parcel-based spatial analysis can be used as a tool to identify problems in current local policies and to suggest ways to improve their efficiency. As a future research direction, MUSIX could be combined with a new module for the evaluation of alternative development scenarios. By producing accessible, accurate and easily combined parcel-level data, planners, governments and other actors could benefit from the model outputs in many ways during the decision-making process.
Open Access
Resilience of a contested high street: The changing image of Tunali Hilmi Street in Ankara, Turkey
(Taylor and Francis, 2020) Erkip, Feyzan
Globally designed shopping spaces constitute a threat to on-street retail, which provides citizens a mix of activity patterns, including shopping, leisure and socializing. Consumers seem to prefer controlled mall environments due to problems in urban centers such as heavy traffic, limited parking, crowding, density and security concerns. The Turkish situation, however, indicates a different trend, with lively inner-city streets coexisting with highly acclaimed shopping malls. This paper addresses changing retail patterns on Tunali Hilmi Street, the first high street in Ankara, which reflects socio-economic and cultural dynamics of the last two decades in urban Turkey. This is a result of organic changes in the street’s historical and demographic features as well as in Turkey’s broader political and cultural environment. Since the millennium, the street has lost its distinctive quality as well as much of its upper-class clientele. The new visitor profile has been perceived by previous users as an invasion and threat to modern urban life. Recently, immigrants and refugees are starting to be seen on the street due to a nearby immigration office, which has caused further reaction. The paper’s extended timespace analysis of Tunali Hilmi Street reflects an overall shift in urban life in Turkey
Open Access
Objects of hate? Architectural symbols of the rich in Turkey in the 1960s
(De Gruyter, 2020) Batuman, Bülent; Pekesen, Berna
It is unfortunately true that there is social injustice in our country. A fortunate class exploits housing potentials and acquires houses which would be considered luxurious even in rich countries; resources are seized to the disadvantage of other classes.This quotation is from the Chamber of Architects’ declaration published a few months after the military intervention in 1960. Although it did not attack the military regime, the text openly criticized the failure of the military to implement effective regulations regarding housing and urbanization. As the quotation reflects, the Chamber’s declaration represents the urgency of the housing question as well as the Chamber’s position with respect to it. Yet, it was none other than architects, who were designing the houses, which “would be considered luxurious even in rich countries.” The tension between the client-dependent nature of the architectural profession and the Chamber’s opposition to urbanization led by the private sector would prevail throughout the following decades. Nonetheless, this tension allows us to consider the multifaceted character of architecture which is simultaneously a service to be bought and a social product to be consumed. I would like to use this intrinsic conflict between the private ownership of buildings and their social use as a starting point for my discussion on the cultural politics of the housing question in Turkey in the 1960s. I will argue that a key mode of consuming architecture is through vision: the visual experience of the built environment establishes the foundation for the social meanings of architecture. Therefore, my aim here is to scrutinize the political role of architectural representations of home in popular culture in the 1960s. As scrutinized by the chapters in this collection, the period witnessed radical changes in almost all facets of social life. Urban life transformed under pressure of multiple factors and led to the emergence of new social practices. Social change encompassed all sorts of domains and cultural production was no exception. New trends and lifestyles displayed social distinction, which triggered conflicting visions regarding the city and its built environment. Within this framework, I will show how cultural representations were not merely reflections of wealth and poverty, but rather components in the making of the imaginations of the rich and the poor.
Open Access
Toplumcu bir belediyecilik modeli: "yeni belediyecilik hareketi" 1973–1977
(Mülkiyeliler Birliği Genel Merkezi, 2010) Batuman, Bülent
1973 ve 1980 yılları arasında CHP’nin yönetimi altında bulunan belediyelerde üretilen ve söz konusu dönemde “yeni”, “devrimci” veya “toplumcu” belediyecilik hareketi olarak isimlendirilen program karşı-hegemonik bir kentsel politika sürecinin bileşeni olarak ortaya çıkmış ve birkaç açıdan dikkate değer özgüllükler barındırmıştır. Her şeyden önce bu programın oluşumu çeşitli disiplinlere mensup kentleşme uzmanlarının katkısıyla ve emekçi sınıfların henüz formüle edilmemiş taleplerine karşılık olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. İkinci olarak, bu hareket Türkiye’de ilk kez yerel yönetimin özerkliği yönünde bir talebin ortaya çıkmasına sebep olmuştur. Üçüncü olarak ise, yeni belediyecilik hareketinin gündemine aldığı uygulamalar kentsel emekçi sınıfların toplumsal bir özne olarak ortaya çıkmasına katkıda bulunmuştur. Makale, Türkiye’deki yerel yönetim geleneğine kısa bir bakışın ardından, 1973–1977 döneminin belediyecilik pratiklerini incelemekte ve son olarak yeni belediyecilik hareketinin uygulamalarını bir üst ölçekte toplumcu bir belediyecilik modeli için geçerli olabilecek boyutlarıyla değerlendirmektedir.
Open Access
Kentsel politikada yeni biçim arayışları: 2009 yerel seçimleri ve Ankara’da “Belediye Yönetimlerinde Saltanata Son” kampanyası
(Dipnot Basın Yayın Pazarlama Ltd. Şti., 2010) Batuman, Bülent; Karakuş-Candan, T.
55 yıllık tarihi boyunca kentsel politika süreçlerinin önemli bir aktörü olmuş bulunan Mimarlar Odası’nın kentsel mücadele alanındaki etkinliği genel olarak kurumsal ve hukuki süreçler içinde tariflidir. Yerel yönetimlerin keyfi ve anti-demokratik uygulamalarının en yoğun deneylendiği kentlerden olan Ankara’da faaliyet gösteren Mimarlar Odası Ankara Şubesi, 2009 Yerel Seçimleri sürecinde mevcut etkinlik çerçevesinin dışına çıkan aktivist bir kentsel mücadele yöntemi arayışına girmiştir. Bu doğrultuda, Oda’nın çağrıştırdığı kurumsal sınırlamaları aşmak ve yeni bir kentsel mücadele dili üretmek hedefiyle “Saltanata Son” adlı bir kampanya düzenlemiştir. Kampanyanın dikkat çekici özelliği, son yıllarda özellikle internet üzerinden örgütlenen ve kent mekânının anlık, hızlı ve çarpıcı kullanımları ile karakterize olan ve literatürde “flash-mob” ve “smart-mob” gibi kavramlarla tanımlanan eylem türlerinden ilham almış olmasıdır. Kampanya, yerel yönetim seçimlerinin sonuçları açısından başarısızlığa uğramış olsa da, örgütlediği katılımcı süreç ve öne sürdüğü kentsel taleplerin gördüğü genel kabul, kampanyanın dikkate değer bir kentsel mücadele deneyimi olduğunu göstermektedir.
Open Access
70’ler: Siyasetin odağındaki kent, kentin odağındaki siyaset
(İletişim Yayınları, 2013) Batuman, Bülent
70’lerin ortalarında Türkiye kentlerine bakıldığında görülen şey, kentin özgül bir siyaset odağı haline gelmiş olduğudur. Bir yanda –hem politik bir aktör hem de toplumsal bir çevre olarak– gecekondu, diğer yanda MC hükümetleriyle çatışan CHP’li belediyeler eliyle gelişen yerel yönetim modeli çerçevesinde hızla politikleşen kentsel hizmetler bulunmaktadır. Bu dönüşüm, sadece on yıl öncesi düşünüldüğünde bile çarpıcıdır. Zira, 60’ların ortalarında gecekondu, himayecilik ilişkileriyle yeniden üretilen ucuz bir kentleşme yöntemi, kentsel toplu tüketim hizmetleri ise, devletin yerel uzantıları olarak görünen belediyelerin doğal işlevleri olarak kavranmaktadır. Bu makale, işte bu dönüşümü, yani 70’lere damgasını vuran bir boyut olarak kentsel politikanın özgül bir siyasal mücadele alanı biçiminde ortaya çıkışını tartışmaktadır. Makalenin temel argümanı, bu dönüşümün özellikle mimar ve kent plancılarından oluşan mekân tasarımcılarının mesleki faaliyetlerini toplumcu siyasal eğilimleriyle buluşturan pratikleri dolayımıyla gerçekleştiğidir. Bu çerçevede makale, mekân tasarımcılarının kentsel siyaseti kuran iki temel alandaki etkinliklerini inceler: konut sorunu ve kentsel siyasetin kurumsal bağlamı olan yerel yönetimler.
Open Access
Now you see him, now you don’t: anthropomorphic representations of the Hittite Kings
(University of Chicago Press, 2019-10) Durusu Tanrıöver, Müge
Hittite kings lived as mortals and became deified only after death. Beyond mere flesh and blood, the identities of the kings were encapsulated in their office, title, and the idea of kingship. Their representations were also divergent, ranging from figural renderings of royal bodies to the writing of names and titles in hieroglyphic Luwian,1 mainly on rock reliefs and seals. Starting with the 14th century BC,2 anthropomorphic representations of Hittite kings3 were incorporated into a very small corpus dominated by seals and rock reliefs, with the name of the king often accompanying the image. Similarly, royal names and epithets in the hieroglyphic script started in the Hittite Old Kingdom with the reign of Tudhaliya I/II (early 14th century BC)4 and were standard features of reliefs and seals in the 14th–13th centuries,5 as represented by numerous examples. The pervasiveness of hieroglyphic Luwian is visible in the fact that almost all the preserved anthropomorphic representations contain a hieroglyphic element, while there are many more inscriptions which are not accompanied by figural imagery. As such, the written and the anthropomorphic illustrations of the Hittite kings represent a contrast in terms of quantity: royal names and titles in the hieroglyphic script were liberally used, while anthropomorphic depictions were reserved for select examples.6 In this article, I argue that the adoption of anthropomorphic representations by Hittite kings were a selective phenomenon. Signifying power and presence through rendering royal titles in hieroglyphic Luwian signs flanking individual names was a conscious preference to visually emphasize the office of kingship more than the individual kings. Starting with the 14th century BC, however, Hittite kings started commissioning anthropomorphic representations explicitly identifying themselves, and continued this practice until the fall of the empire at the start of the 12th century BC. The reign of Muwatalli II in the early 13th century was the most active period of royal patronage of anthropomorphic illustrations executed on seals and rock reliefs. The triggers for the accelerated use of this iconography in the 13th century, I suggest, rested mainly on two phenomena. First, Hatti was under a lot of pressure from the borderlands of the empire as well as the neighboring states. Second, the royal succession in Hattuša was rife with conflict, disrupting the continuity of kingship, and forcing the rulers to emphasize their individual relationships with the divine realm as legitimate kings. In an attempt to articulate the power bestowed upon them by gods as legitimate and able rulers, the Hittite kings started to commission more anthropomorphic depictions of themselves, albeit scrupulously.7 In these figural royal representations, the connection between the anthropomorphic manifestations and divinity was emphasized and reinforced. The king’s body was depicted in only three ways: when he was facing a deity; when he was in the protective embrace of a god; or when the king was a god himself. Thus, in all the examples I discuss below, the manifestation of the king in human form is conditioned by his absorption by, and encounter with, divine energy.8 In other words, a divine element (either a god or a deified king) was a mandatory prerogative for the depiction of the body of the Hittite king. Contrary to other Near Eastern traditions of representing kingship in a culturally-coded way signifying both the king and his office at the same time,9 specific depictions of both kingship and individual kings were both sought after in the Hittite examples. The hieroglyphic signs for Great King (MAGNUS.REX),10 often doubled with the winged sun disc positioned above the name of the king, emphasized the importance of the office of kingship as a continuous institution. In contrast, anthropomorphic representations intended to articulate the relationship of the individual king with the divine realm and emphasized his right to rule as the king supported by the gods. In comparison with other eastern Mediterranean traditions, especially the Neo-Assyrian and Egyptian examples, anthropomorphic representations of Hittite kings are conservative in terms of both quantity and content. The few images of the Hittite kings depict them either facing, pouring libations to, or being in the embrace of a god; or deified themselves.11 The body of the king in Hittite iconography, therefore, was visible only when he was in contact with the divine realm, as if the body of the king was a culmination of divine energy.