Reinvention of tradition as an urban image: the case of Ankara Citadel

Abstract

Debates on urban tourism have been coupled with a widespread discourse on 'placelessness', 'loss of identity', and 'standardization' related to the modernist ideology of planning. In this respect, utilizing this historic urban fabric has become important as a means of recreating an urban image. Ironically, efforts to avoid standardization are caught in another trap of sameness and blandness, because a very similar vocabulary is used in the ability of those tourist-historic places to meet the expectations of the universal tourist industry. In this context, we analyzed the recent efforts to integrate an inner-city area, Ankara Citadel and its vicinity, focusing on the changing identity owing to the introduction of income-generating and tourist-attraction facilities. The nature and consequences of this transformation have been investigated in terms of the issues of preservation practice, economic feasibility, public interest, and its ethics and legitimacy.