Between empire and industry: negotiating urban heritage, modernization, and identity in Bursa, Türkiye

Heritage-led urban transformation in Bursa, Türkiye, reveals how UNESCO designation and neoliberal policies prioritize monumental Ottoman legacies while marginalizing Republican-era industrial heritage. This study demonstrates that such processes reshape urban space through commodification, selective remembrance, and symbolic exclusion, often at the expense of everyday urban practices and social equity. By integrating Lefebvre’s production of space, Halbwachs’ politics of collective memory, and Harvey’s concept of spatial justice, the research highlights tensions between preservation, modernization, and spatial justice in post-imperial cities under global heritage regimes.

ARAS, A. (2026). Between empire and industry: negotiating urban heritage, modernization, and identity in Bursa, Türkiye. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07349-y