The Problem of Housing Abandonment in Historical Environment

Abstract

Conservation of historical environments is one of the means of transferring spatial information to future generations. The conservation of historical buildings by using them is an important policy in terms of urban conservation. However, houses with rich historical backgrounds located in urban sites are abandoned by their owners, although they are protected by law. The aim of this study is to reveal the spatial causes for the abandonment of the houses in the historical environment. Bayındır district of Izmir is selected as the study area with its rich historical building stock and protected urban pattern. The abandonment rate of the houses in the Bayındır urban conservation area is 11%, and it constitutes a suitable sample to determine the factors that lead to abandonment. The method of the study consists of three stages. First, the spatial parameters that cause the abandonment of the houses are determined. Then, data on these spatial parameters are collected through field surveys. In the last stage, the relationship between spatial parameters and abandonment is assessed using statistics. According to the chi-square and t-test results, a relationship is found between abandonment and the presence of abandoned houses around the house in question (p