Abstract
Conservation of Rural Heritage and Local Tourism: Case of Foça, Kozbeyli
Rural heritage sites are cultural landscapes that require holistic conservation of the natural environment, vernacular buildings, and social values. The change of economic, social, and cultural parameters, as well as growing urbanization in the technological age, cause several changes in rural environments. Besides, vernacular settlements have become centers of attraction for urbanites. These also cause multifaceted problems for conservation. The aim of the study is to question the effectiveness of existing applications on sustainable conservation of rural settlements and to scrutinize the positive-negative effects of local tourism. İzmir, Foça, Kozbeyli has been chosen as the case study area, as it’s registered as a conservation site and has been affected by local tourism for the last several years. In this research, the changes in the physical environment of the village, beginning from the registration year till today are put forward, and local tourism units are analyzed regarding their location, function, and relation with the historical environment. These data are scrutinized according to heritage values, problems, and potentials of the settlement, and evaluated in the context of utilizing local tourism as an efficient tool for rural heritage conservation.
Keywords
Rural heritage, Rural Conservation, Cultural Landscape, Local Tourism, Kozbeyli.
