Urban Scenes of a Port City

Abstract

This dissertation is an invitation to the reader to explore Güzel İzmir / Beautiful İzmir in Turkey. Through three different semi-fictional narratives, it aims to draw attention to specific and singular spaces as they were recorded and remembered through old postcards, black and white photographs, stories, and written travelogues in the past centuries and decades. Thus, it wants to discuss the specificity of an eastern Mediterranean port city by addressing it on eye-level through the experiences of a wanderer. By acknowledging the important role of narratives in building an image of the city, this doctoral research proposes that developing a particular narrative writing method may help to re-establish emotional connections between present-day inhabitants of port cities and their environments. It offers an alternative way of writing and an unconventional reading of the urban and architectural history of İzmir to revive socio-spatial practices by writing narratives of Beautiful İzmir.