A Piece of Urban Nature from the 20th Century to the Present: Pastor's Vineyard

Abstract

The study examines and evaluates the construction, micro-history, and transformation of an example of urban nature: Papazın Bağı (Pastor's Vineyard). The area is an officially protected natural area and commercial enterprise which has represented the conceptual framework of ‘urban nature.' since the beginning of the 20th century. The turning point in the history of the area is considered to be around the 1960s and 1970s, which is when the vineyard and vineyard house life was abandoned by the Kuloğlu family and the area kavgained the status, as part of the urbanization of the area, of a protected natural resource. The study tells the microhistory of Pastor's Vineyard's in two phases: first the story of the vineyard and vineyard house, and then the urbanization and urban nature process. The factors, actors, and events and, accordingly, the mutual interactions of culture, constructed environment, and nature that led to the transformations that occurred in the urban nature of Pastor's Vineyard are explored in the two phases. The study can be seen as a discussion of Pastor's Vineyard as a multi-factored laboratory sample, or a piece of urban nature that tries to go beyond the conventional narratives of nature being in opposition to the city and human culture.

Keywords

• urbanization
• urban nature
• vineyard culture
• microhistory
• urbanization
• culture
• nature
• ankara