RECONSIDERING 'RIVERS' AS INITIATORS AND GENERATORS OF HERITAGE PLACES: THE MENDERES (MAEANDRUM) RIVER DELTA
Gökhan Okumuş (ODTÜ), A. Güliz Bilgin Altınöz (ODTÜ), Gerdy A. Verschuure-Stuip (TU DELFT)
The project, supported by the METU Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project No: 11778; Project Code: TEZ-D-201-2025-11778), aims to examine the Menderes River Delta as riverine landscape heritage through a holistic heritage definition and approach that considers rivers not only as sources of life and sustenance, but also as creators and connectors of culture. The research proposes a multidimensional and multiscalar approach to water/riverine landscape heritage that changes and transforms over time, is reproduced by landscape authors, constructs water-based identities, and shapes human–nature relationships. Through this approach, while tracing nature–culture connections and integrity through spatio-temporal and biographical analyses, it designs a holistic heritage definition and approach, as well as a heritage information management and decision-support system in which multidimensional layers of data and information are brought together.
PROT3CT (PROcesses for sustainable retrofit of Traditional dwellings in Turkey for Climate-resilience, Conservation, and ComforT)
PROT3CT (PROcesses for sustainable retrofit of Traditional dwellings in Turkey for Climate-resilience, Conservation, and ComforT) is a joint British Council TUBITAK funded Newton Institutional Links project. The specific objectives of PROT3CT are to identify cost-effective packages of improvement options to enhance the energy performance of traditional dwelling typologies in Turkey, help increase awareness of residents, custodians of heritage, policymakers, and academia of climate resiliency, and provide knowledge exchange to establish sustainable impact and collaborative links.
Commagene Nemrut Conservation Development Program (CNCDP)
The Tumulus of Mount Nemrut, discovered in 1881, has been the subject of archaeological research and excavations for more than a hundred years. In 1986, MountNemrut was declared an Archaeological Conservation Area according to national legislature and inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. In 2006, Middle East Technical University (METU) prepared the Commagene Nemrut Conservation Development Program (CNCDP) for a series of research and implementation projects concerning the conservation of the Tumulus of Mount Nemrut.
The primary aim of CNCDP is:
"The conservation, interpretation, presentation and sustainability of the Tumulus of Mount Nemrut, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as well as the archaeological sites within the boundaries of Nemrut National Park and the region which includes monuments belonging to the Commagene civilization; to preserve their architectural, archaeological, historical, economic, social, cultural and ecological values as a whole, according to international conservation principles."