The Effects of Disaster Decisions on the Conservation of Traditional Houses: Case Study on Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a region that has valuable natural formations, fairy chimneys and traditional settlements with rich housing pattern. The region was first listed in 1976 as a conservation site, then designated as Natural and Cultural World Heritage Site in 1985 and National Park in 1986. All these conservation designations and titles are inscribed by means of the tuff geological structure of the area which has generated an authentic rock-cut and masonry housing typology by making possible to shape rock easy and also by providing building materials. The tuff geologic layer has been eroded in the course of time and caused natural disasters in the settlement areas frequently. From the 1960s, natural disasters such as rock falling and collapse of caves have been occurred in Cappadocia settlements and people living in these structures have been transferred to newly built houses. After these disaster and transfer decisions, traditional housing areas were abandoned for a long time in the urban fabric. In the beginning of 1990s, disaster decisions took before were started to be modified and it could be possible to resettle for these houses. So that the process of the transformation to the tourism facilities were started for many of the traditional houses in disaster areas. In this research, conservation problems in the traditional settlements caused by the natural disasters were studied with in the context of architectural heritage. The effects of the transformation of the traditional houses to the touristic facilities caused by the disaster decisions were also evaluated.