Evaluating Tarsus's Spatial Structure in Roman Times as a Planning Basemap

Abstract

In Turkey, most of the historic cities are multilayered due to continuous settlements. In any case, urban archaeological potentials of cities could not be spatially evaluated and handle-handled into planning processes. Therefore, the present paper focuses on the critical role of diachronic maps in planning process by referring a completed research project in Tarsus historic city center, which aims to develop a method to handle-handled urban archaeological resources into the planning process. In this defined context, the concept of urban archaeology and urban archaeology in Turkey has been only briefly evaluated. Then, the methods of collecting, analyzing, and evaluating archaeological and historical data for preparing diachronic maps are presented. The main focus of the paper is the evaluation of Tarsus's spatial structure in the Roman Period, when the city reached its largest settlement area, according to historical geography and archaeological findings. Mainly, the paper expresses possibilities presented through diachronic documents to plan multilayered cities similar to Tarsus. Spatial evaluation of Tarsus's boundaries and main activities in Roman Period entails planning of contemporary Tarsus historic city center with respect to archaeological layers. In fact, diachronic maps evaluate urban archaeological potential within the spatial context of planning. Consequently, completed studies in Tarsus's historic city center have the potential to influence a discussion on similar multilayered cities.

Keywords

• diachronic map
• urban archaeology
• tarsus
• quantumgis (qgis).