Josef GSPURNING | Kerstin DOHR
(Karl Franzens Universität, Graz, Austria)

Keywords: Istanbul, World Heritage Site, Geographic Information Systems, Network Analysis, Accessibility

Abstract:
The World Heritage Site of Istanbul covers four individual areas, which are all situated on the historic peninsula enclosing the district of Fatih. These consist of the Archaeological Park, the Süleymaniye Quarter, the Zeyrek Quarter and the ramparts. In these cultural heritage zones nearly all well-known historic sites are located, in particular the Topkapı Palace, the Sultanahmet Mosque, the Ayasofya Museum, the Hippodrome, the Süleymaniye Mosque or the Theodosian Land Wall, all of them cultural heritage objects of outstanding touristic significance. Considering that in many aspects there is a strong interdependency between (cultural) tourism and cultural heritage, it can be assumed that the “presentation” of cultural heritage objects influences the tourists and their behaviour. Therefore, the underlying survey is focused on the domestic and the foreign sightseers as the appropriate target group, using selected aspects (such as activity range per time unit or the object’s visibility range) for the quantification of presence and appearance of architectural heritage.
Methodically this is done by a geographic information system based network analysis. At first the visibility of the various objects was taken into consideration. An evaluation according to the following criteria was made: their visual perceptibility, their relationship to their neighbourhoods as well as their importance in the consciousness of the visitors. Afterwards the accessibility of the single heritage zones was examined by a quantification of the effort to arrive at. The analysis concentrated itself on three main information layers: the origin of the visitors (single entities as well as hotel hot spots), the destination (cultural heritage site) and the means of transportation (public transport and footway network). The results demonstrate how cultural heritage is presented to tourists by its accessibility. Firstly the touristic areas, considering accommodation, as well as the most interesting cultural heritage zones were evaluated. Thereof the accessibility of the single World Heritage Site zones was quantified using isochrones to delineate areas of equal drive time. The zoning furthermore outlined which zones were easily to access and which poorly and how they are integrated in the urban structure.