Res. Asst. Başak Lâle publishes a new article: The Changing Face of Dead-End Streets in Istanbul Fatih on the Threshold of Privacy and Publicness

Derived from the doctoral dissertation conducted by Res. Asst. Başak Lâle, the article titled “On the Threshold of Privacy and Publicness: The Changing Face of Dead-End Streets in Istanbul Fatih” puts a spotlight on dead-end streets, which constitute one of the most characteristic elements of the traditional residential fabric. The study interprets the changing meaning of dead-end streets from the past to the present through the concepts of housing, privacy, and publicness.

“Alienation of the street from being exclusive to the dwelling…” 

Drawing attention to the strong bond that dead-end streets established with residential interior spaces in traditional Islamic and Ottoman urban formation, the study emphasizes that these streets were exclusive to the household in the past, functioning almost like a living room of the house and shaped as an intimate part of daily life. In the research, where the unique urban morphology of the Historical Peninsula (Fatih) is examined, the transformation that these areas have undergone in social and spatial terms along with modernization processes and changing housing practices is revealed with striking data.

One of the main arguments of the study is how dead-end streets, which nurtured neighborhood relations and offered a secure semi-public space (threshold) in the traditional fabric, have lost these roles in today's urban dynamics. Due to mass-production housing approaches, changing lifestyle habits, and socio-spatial transformations, dead-end streets distance themselves from their formerly protected and life-filled identity, turning into differentiated spaces within the physical urban fabric.

Providing a significant contribution to the literature in the context of urban memory, architectural heritage, and the preservation of traditional neighborhood culture, the article can be accessed via the DOI number 10.54864/planarch.1849161. We congratulate Res. Asst. Başak Lâle on this valuable work and wish her continued success.