Batı Karadeniz’de Tarihi Bir Yerleşimin Mekânsal Dönüşüm Süreci: Çatalzeytin, Kastamonu

Çatalzeytin is a sparsely populated coastal settlement in the province of Kastamonu in the Western Black Sea Region of Türkiye. Today, it is a small-scale settlement that contains more than forty villages and has not developed due to geographical conditions. However, during the Ottoman period, it was an important settlement that stood out economically with its forestry and maritime activities. Its built environment once comprised traditional wooden houses, educational buildings, religious structures, and public institutions characteristic of the region. Today, the settlement has largely lost the tangible cultural heritage elements that make up its historical fabric due to a variety of factors. The aim of this study is to examine the historical development of Çatalzeytin by dividing it into periods after its establishment at the beginning of the 18th century, to determine the tangible cultural heritage elements that have survived/not survived to the present day and to make a conservation-oriented assessment based on the spatial transformation process of the settlement. The settlement was examined in four periods based on administrative structure: the period before the establishment, the period with village status from the beginning of the 18th century to 1911, the sub-district (nahiyelik) period from 1911 to 1954, and the district period from 1954 to 2000. A review of the existing literature reveals a lack of comprehensive research regarding both the identification of Çatalzeytin’s tangible cultural heritage and its spatial transformation. The scope of this study is limited to the settlement center of Çatalzeytin district, and rural areas are excluded from the evaluation. The method of the study includes field work, archival research, literature review, and mapping. During this process, historical maps, aerial photographs, official documents, newspaper reports, and photographic archives were examined. Historical photographs of the settlement were obtained from the archives of the local Çatalzeytin Mektubu Newspaper published since 1982 and the Ciye Çatalzeytin Documentary published as a special supplement of the same newspaper. The physical development of Çatalzeytin has been shaped by spatial organizations that have changed in parallel with administrative status changes throughout history. In the pre-establishment period, it is assumed that the settlement exhibited a very small-scale character closely related to the coastline. Upon attaining village status in the early 18th century, a settlement pattern based on rural life and maritime/forestry activities emerged. A sloped coastal settlement developed, with traditional wooden houses and a marketplace centered around a religious building. During the sub-district period (1911–1954), as administrative functions expanded, public structures such as squares, mosques, government offices, and schools were constructed, giving rise to a centralized civic core. Following its designation as a district in 1954, modern public buildings, social facilities, health and education structures, and land reclamation projects along the shoreline appeared. During this period, physical growth accelerated, and parts of the traditional urban fabric were replaced by unqualified constructions. Unregulated construction activity, especially after 1980, weakened Çatalzeytin’s unique historical and environmental identity, particularly its relationship with the coast. Since the 2000s, it has been observed that it has largely lost its unique identity and silhouette with the unqualified multi-storey buildings parallel to the coastline. As a result, it has been observed that the original historical fabric has largely disappeared, except for a small number of wooden houses; these wooden houses have been destroyed since they were not officially registered as cultural assets, and in return, the construction activities of unqualified multi-storey reinforced concrete structures have rapidly increased. The main reasons for this negative process are the absence of conservation regulations, population decline due to outward migration, property ownership disputes, and the inability of historic structures to meet contemporary living standards. All these factors have contributed to the erasure of physical traces that reflect the settlement’s historical continuity, which in turn has negatively impacted the preservation of social memory. Therefore, a comprehensive and holistic conservation approach must be adopted to ensure the sustainability of the settlement’s existing historical fabric. In addition to registration and documentation efforts, initiatives must be developed to engage and raise awareness among the local population. Otherwise, Çatalzeytin’s architectural and cultural memory is at serious risk of irreversible loss.