The Role of Globalisation in Baku's New City

This article examines the construction of Baku city, which has undergone rapid change in recent years following the effects of globalisation, and where many new and iconic buildings have been built. These buildings have influenced the formation of Baku's new city image. The study focuses on how the texture of the newly built (2009-2018) contemporary buildings, primarily medium and large-scale projects, in intense development areas have affected the city's architectural identity. The selected 27 buildings were examined according to seven developed design criteria that examine the features affecting architectural identity. The results obtained with the findings are presented in the tables. Within the examination of the architectural development of Baku, the regions where the new buildings are mostly built, the west coast of the Caspian Sea and the urban development area Haydar Aliyev Street are discussed. While the still young 27-year-old republic focused on the intense modern city image, there were losses in the interesting urban and architectural texture during the period.


Introduction
Globalization, considered the concept of the 20 th century, expresses the change in almost every field, from politics to economy, from social policy to culture. Globalisation emerged in the 1960s, began to be used frequently in the 1980s and became the keyword of the 1990s (Bozkurt, 2000).
The concept refers to the perception of the World as a single entity, the emergence of new forms of interaction and relationship that go beyond the borders of the nationstate. The globalisation process defined by the concept of "global village" means that people of the World live in a tribal state and that various events taking place around the globe are communicated to everyone.
The phenomenon of globalisation has affected every aspect of our time. The technological and industrial revolution constitutes the main driving force of the process.
The global urban discourse is based on the World City hypothesis developed by Friedmann and Wolff (1982) and later by Sassen (2001) and a number of scholars. According to Friedmann, the world city is where international capital concentrates and accumulates. Regional, national and international economies are articulated in these cities. World cities are where global transportation, communication, news, information and culture are produced and spread, carrying out essential ideological and control functions (Friedmann, 1995).
The most obvious effect of globalisation is on cities. It can affect the structure, identity, meaning, environmental values and image of the city. When the phrase "global city" is mentioned, a place where high skyscrapers, symbolism, and crowded commercial spaces dominated by brands come to mind. Uniform consumption culture dominates the global city. Therefore, it turns into a city dominated by big corporations and brands. All these transformations result in the slow disappearance of the city's self-identity. For this reason, cities today have become centres that shape social and cultural life and direct the World. This phenomenon destroys the fabric of societies and creates a uniform structure for cities according to a particular model.
In its most general definition, a global city is a city that has undergone changes as a result of capital movements. Global cities, which have come to the fore with their economy, culture, social and political structure in recent years, have also turned into media cities as they are centres where information is produced and rapidly transferred.
In big cities, a structure has begun to be presented in which the centres of television channels and newspapers are located, images (news, advertisements, data on the stock market) are constantly flowing from electronic screens on the streets, and communication is increasingly shifting to electronic media through the internet (Sassen, 1991).
The effect of globalisation on urban space and urbanisation is mainly related to the physical dimension of cities. Similar structuring tendencies experienced in most cities following globalisation cause cities to become increasingly similar. Prototype buildings, produced with similar designs, the same construction technology and building materials, result in uniformity. It also destroys the urban identities determined by local authenticities (Bali, 2002;Yaylı, 2012).
Istanbul has been the first and most affected city by the globalisation process. The socio-economic and cultural structure of the city and its relations with the world economy has changed rapidly since the 1980s. The typical features of global cities have also begun to be observed in Istanbul. While the manufacturing sector declined, the service sector developed, and employment shifted to fields of study such as finance, media, advertising, entertainment, art and real estate. With the country's prominence in the international arena, the city's globalisation process gained momentum after the 1990s. The social and economic transformations that accelerated with globalisation not only changed the employment structure of the city but also began to rapidly transform its architectural appearance, demographic dynamics and social stratification patterns (Gürses, 2010:p.127). The city's local historical character and silhouette are constantly struggling with the global iconic image that urban authorities have been trying to impose. The urban image and silhouette are changing and creating a multi-layered structure, integrating global and local patterns. A spontaneous urban image and silhouette are emerging as a result of the construction of high-rise buildings, contrary to the development plans in effect, by obtaining privileged development rights and carrying out planned renovation (Sarı and Dülgeroğlu Yüksel, 2017).
The global city is a city with a dense image. Architecture significantly influences the formation of the city image as they embrace this image by creating iconic architecture. We can understand architecture as a natural reflection of social, economic and political movements. The development of globalisation in architecture coincided with the reign of Modernism. In its founding Modernist ideals, there is always the ambition to be world-class. Modernism destroyed national architecture, and this allowed the World to be defined as modern only (Adam, 2008).
Modernism has also become a highly specialised phenomenon in North Atlantic culture. This western enlightenment concept was based on ideals of rationality, scientific revolution, progress and the end of the future, which gave rise to globalisation. In a very short time, the homogenisation of global consumerism paralleled the homogenisation of urban centres around the World. The glasswalled office has become the Coca-Cola of architecture. It is now impossible to describe the global position of San Francisco, Osaka, Sao Paolo, Brussels, Berlin and Shanghai without references to signage or vehicle registration plates (Adam, 2008 Cities sought brand differentiation and symbolic modernity as they competed across nations to attract global investment and global tourism. The new architecture has been called "supermodern" by the Dutch critic Hans Ibelings.
In recent years, due to the economic development in Azerbaijan, a significant amount of capital has been invested in the construction sector. This development was seen mainly in Baku, the capital, with new largescale construction. While the city gained a new image, the urban texture has undergone a certain amount of change. The new identity gained by the construction of the buildings has heavily affected the old architectural identity.
While Baku gained a new globalised image, the urban texture has changed to a certain extent. The new identity gained by the construction of modern buildings has led to a loss of identity of old architecture.
This article examines the effects of the buildings constructed in Baku in the last 10-12 years and the effect of globalisation on Baku's architecture and urban identity.
Initially, concepts related to cultural, architectural, urban identities, and city image constitute the theoretical part of the study. A literature search has been conducted to discuss the trends in Baku during various periods. The buildings are chosen according to their location, years of completion, functions, and architects. Criteria have been developed to evaluate 27 buildings in newly built areas in Baku. The criteria that reveal the features that affect architectural identity are grouped under seven headings. The locations of the buildings are shown on the maps. The plans and sections of most of the investigated buildings were obtained from different offices in Baku and the archives of the Azerbaijan State Project Institute.

Concept of identity
The problem of identity occurs with the realisation of the self, the desire to understand who we are, and how we differ from other people. Identity is the individual's reflection of what they experience; what they see and conceive, and what changes over time. In its classical definition, identity is a sense of belonging and trust. We can also define identity as freedom and happiness.
Identity is the whole of the conditions that make a person a particular individual with their characteristics and symptoms peculiar to the human being as a social being. Güvenç (1997) defines identity as its simplest definition; "Who are you, where are you from? Of individuals, groups, societies or communities is their answer or answers to the question" (Güvenç, 1997:p20).
Conditioning and restriction are notions that prevent the formation of identity. Thus, groups and individuals participate in shaping identity through their actions, which are the result of decisions and designs.

Cultural identity
Culture is the entirety of material and spiritual features that society has produced and transferred from generation to generation in the historical process. Culture constitutes the identity of a society, making it different from other societies. Cultural identity determination is the most basic form of belonging.
Cultural identity has always come to the fore with the meeting of different cultures due to geographical proximity, commercial relations, or military developments. It has been turned into the most powerful tool that "protects" to ensure the collective life of people.
Culture generally consists of two elements: 1. Material cultural items: buildings, equipment, clothes. 2. Spiritual, cultural elements: beliefs, traditions, norms, and ways of thinking.
There is a constant interaction between the material and spiritual elements of culture. A change in one affects the other. Culture is affected by the natural environment of the society, i.e. geographical conditions. For example, cultures living in mountainous regions differ from those living in fertile plains.
Culture, too, is seen as a phenomenon whose boundaries belong to a specific geography, arising from the "unique" features of that geography, just like flora and fauna, and are directly connected to the place. Wendy Hall (1995) expresses this as "we need to landscape cultural identities", which means we always need to relate cultural identities to a geographic landscape.
This definition also implies that borders include not only the place but also identity and culture. Excluding the place results in the loss of cultural identity. Assmann (2005), who defines cultural identity as the awareness of social belonging, speaking a common language or using a common symbolic system in general terms, calls the definition of partnership a "cultural system" and emphasises the relation of identity with culture. Cultural identity corresponds to a particular system that shapes and reproduces it, while the cultural system is defined as a tool on which common identity is based and maintained over generations.

Architectural identity
Architectural identity varies according to the place of origin. Folk architecture is considered unique to a particular region and period and is mainly used for residences. Natural features such as landforms, climate, soil, and water are the primary materials forming folk architecture. The most important dimension of folk architecture is the function of the building. The aesthetic concern is of secondary importance. Generally, folk architecture is the pure reflection of culture and life on buildings.
Formation of identity in city architecture, the culture of the society, and climatic and geographical settlement characteristics, together, play a role. The architectural environment has a significant impact on human education and development. Architecture is an area of national culture and separate from folk architecture. As a result, the state has different tools to create the perspective of its citizens. Architecture is one of these tools. Therefore, architecture also has a political dimension.
It reflects its identity in any creative work and projects itself by showing its reality. Therefore, architectural identity is also under the influence of authority.
In other words, architectural identity is a language made up of shaped social values and has a unique structure in every society. As in the language we speak, there are games and connotations in architectural language. Like every word, every form can have a connotation. Knowing language allows us to attribute connotations to the product (Özgen, 2003).
Yuri M. Lotman (2000) explains that the architectural and design language of the space is a complete cultural language in the "semiosphere clouds" category of all cultural events in the World. This language carries a large amount of information, which, if not, would not support society and the individual's self-identification. As a result, the architectural identity reflects the historical heritage and cultural values of societies on architecture.

Urban identity
The similarity of origin between words such as civilisation and city in Latin languages, civilisation, and city (medina) in Arabic, leads us to state that civilisation originated from cities. It is known that the word city (polis) in Greek originates from the same root as politics (political). The perception of urban life as the cradle of civilisation has led to the derivation of the words civilities and urbanite from the root of the city in some languages. Cities are part miniature and part mirror of the economic and social system they are connected to. All the features of the general structure are reflected in them, together with their beauty and maladies. Rome is representative of Italy, London of England, and Jakarta of Indonesia, for example (Keleş, 2005).
Urban identity is a multidimensional concept like the city concept; process, place, and human relations. It is possible to give different definitions for determining identity, as cities are just like people. In this context, different scales and interpretations in each city have their characteristics and form a character.
The city's identity is shaped over a long period from the past to the future, utilising the natural environment data, history, culture, socio-economic structure, and the sum of all the characteristics that make it different from other cities. What contributes to its culture is the city's identity.
The natural profile of the city is formed by evaluating integration with the socio-economic profile and the manufactured space profile. Its distinctive features create and emphasise urban identity. These features; include the city's climate data (London's fog), geographical features (Bosphorus of Istanbul, Venetian Canals), and monumental buildings made by humans (Egyptian Pyramids, Kremlin Palace, Manhattan Skyscrapers).
The environment affects the formation and maturation of an individual's identity. The individual identity, which constitutes the identity of the group and society, is formed by the individual's experiences, all perceptions, knowledge, experience, behaviour, expectations, predictions, wishes, ambition, as well as the social traditions, beliefs and expectations they live in. Therefore, the identity elements consisting of demographic structure (population size, density, age groups, structure) and sub-elements of cultural structure originate from the human environment.
Identities formed by society contain elements from the past, reinterpretations of those elements, and completely new elements in every period. Urban identity is constantly defined and produced in line with social relations, technological and scientific developments.
History is a vital factor in the formation of a city's identity. The existing environment affects the architectural identity of the new buildings constructed in cities where historical buildings dominate the urban fabric. In addition to qualified historical buildings, significant contemporary buildings are also designed in major cities around the World. In this respect, urban identity not only develops over time but also changes over time. Change is a reinterpretation that ensures the continuity of identity and includes updating every value transferred from the past according to the requirements of the time (Asiliskender et al., 2005).
In summary, urban identity can be defined as the sum of all the differences and qualities arising from natural environmental conditions and socio-economic and cultural environmental conditions acquired in the historical development process. Besides, the identity of the city can be constantly redefined as a result of the social relations that are constantly developing and being communicated.

Urban image
Image is the understanding and impressions left by a person or institution in the minds of other people or institutions. An individual's image is their way of being perceived by society as a whole according to their clothing, behaviour, language skills, and application of etiquette and courtesy. This model can have a positive or negative impact. It is all about the events experienced or the reactions given. Research indicates that it is not easy to alter the image perceived within the first 30 seconds of an interaction.
Cities also have an image like people. The phenomenon of impact mentioned previously is also valid for cities. Urban image is the general view and lifestyle of the city. The most important factors affecting this image are urban architecture, lifestyles, and the people there. The city's streets, streets, parks, public spaces, people's clothing, and behaviours create the first impressions, thus integrating with the city. The concept of space, time, and movement that adds meaning to all living and non-living beings and draws the boundaries of the city creates the image of the city.

Main features which affect architectural identity
In terms of time, identity has sustainable and dynamic aspects. If identity only had a fixed status, architecture would have a consistent continuity throughout history. However, like human identity, architectural identity has had fixed and dynamic aspects in every historical period. People make sense of their architecture by changing their inner motivation, environmental functions, or physical environment. Actions and events provide the form and structure of the physical environment that humanity first accepts. Then the features of the shapes, levels, and forms attract attention and are perceived.

Temporal organisation:
The concept of time is perceived differently in different cultures. People live in space and time. For this reason, the environment also has a temporal aspect.
The changes are dependent on the time lapsed: • Continuity in architecture: In his book "A Scientific Autobiography", Aldo Rossi (2010) lists the objects he has seen and experienced in the past and expresses these in his following designs. Architects or not, each individual creates a subconscious repository by accumulating what they have observed since childhood and perceives architectural buildings by comparing them with the data in their storage. • Modernism: The word modern has its new meaning. First taken as "modern" in Latin in the 5 th century, it emerged to describe the transition from Paganism to Christianity. 19 th century in architecture anticipates this concept, innovation, and progress. At the same time, it is defined as a system of thought that stands against tradition and supports the change that occurs with progress. The concept of modernity predicts discontinuity, includes transformation, breaking with tradition, and change (Habermas, 1983).
3. Semantic organisation: Each building is separate according to its use and function; the semantic load given here should be understandable to users. Architectural buildings have a semantic and concrete dimension. The concrete dimension is displayed in architecture with colour, shape, size, and other physical characteristics through symbols. Many building materials express specific semantic properties through certain characteristics. For example, stone represents gravity and weight, red and marble represent authenticity and wealth. Consequently, we can divide the semantic organisation into subheadings, including symbolic, cultural, nature-oriented, and functional. 4. Building form 5. Material 6. Relation to context 7. Iconic feature.
According to the results obtained from the research, the selected buildings were analysed using seven headings by adding the feature of being iconic here. At the same time, subheadings of seven main headings were developed.

The architectural and urban identity of Baku
Azerbaijan, or the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country located in the Caucasus, at the intersection of Western Asia and Eastern Europe (Fig. 2), and is flanked by the Caspian Sea from the east. Mountain ridges, hills, and plateaus make up more than half of Azerbaijan's landmass. The remaining areas consist of plains. The diversity of landscape, climate, and natural conditions, and the influence of various religions, cultures, and traditions have created the region's diverse architecture. We can investigate Absheron historically from the era of the Shirvanshahs (XI-XV centuries), the Sefevis (XVI-XVII centuries), the Baku khanates, and the early capitalism era (Fetullayev and Fiqarov, 2013). Each era has left distinctive traces in the state's important buildings and general architecture. Depending on social conditions and political determination, construction has progressed towards life, civil and religious buildings with a defensive function.
The inner city is the historic neighbourhood, which is also known as "Gala" or simply "Old City" by locals (Fig. 3). It is considered the oldest part of Baku and is an area under historical-architectural protection. Inner-city, the oldest part of Baku, is surrounded by well-preserved fortress walls. More than 1,300 families live in the woodland with an area of 221,000 m². In 1977, the Inner City was declared a historically protected area, and in 2000, the Maiden's Tower and the Shirvanshahs Palace Complex were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It forms the straight streets of the city that stretch out to "eternity".
At the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century, Baku became the major industrial centre of the Southern Caucasus. The social, economic, and political developments of Baku at that time led to the development of urbanism and architecture. In this period, oil-rich individuals invited architects from abroad to build in the centre of Baku (Fig. 4).
Baku underwent significant economic development in this period (Fig. 5). This development era is described by V. I. Lenin in his work "The development of capitalism in Russia": "Almost all of the oil was produced in Baku province, and Baku city was transformed from a small city to a big industrial city." (Lenin, 1979:p.25).
After the early capitalism period in Baku, as a result of social and economic change, a new architectural trend started to emerge. Constructivism in architecture has been strengthened by the effect of new industrial technology and materials, iron, concrete, and glass. In the architecture of the early century, a movement called "constructuvism" emerged.
The century of strong industry, functionalism, mass production, and the resulting inevitable standardisation of products was beginning. The revival of professions on which modern aesthetics is based, care for manual labour, could not answer the new demands and was not able to adapt to them (Aliyev, 2013). Elements of this trend were in harmony with the local architecture of Baku. There are specific examples of constructivism in Baku (Fig. 6).
In 1934, the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party criticised the constructivism movement and, at the same time, issued a decree addressing national traditions and roots.
The Stalinists currently required the use of national elements in architecture. This enabled the creation of the Azerbaijani architects union and the development of national architecture.
In the first years after the formation of the Soviet Republic, the first architecture-construction university affiliated with the Azerbaijan Technical University was established. Many architects graduated from the faculty in the 1930s. Among them were successful architects such as Mikayil Huseynov and Sadih Dadasov. The work of these architects was reflected in the architectural development of Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. The expectation of the Soviet republic from Stalinist architecture helped architecture achieve national colour by ordering "national in form, socialist in content" art (Fig. 7).
In 1955, the decision to "eliminate the extremes in design and construction" was adopted by ending the Stalinist empire movement in architecture. Industrialisation focused primarily on housing construction: it was necessary to decide on the type of apartment and housing. Construction of large areas had begun. In the 1960s and 1970s, a new architectural style was developing that was simple, economical, based on a new industry, and expressed the possibilities of modern technology.
The Socialist architectural movement covered the years 1960-1980 in Azerbaijan. During these periods, urbanism and architecture were characterised by the rapid rise of living dwellings in the vacant lands of the country's cities, the spread of the construction of large industrial complexes, and separate social buildings (Fig. 8). Great attention was paid to the cleaning and modernisation of the living environment of historic cities and the restoration of historical monuments, which add their character and expressiveness to these cities.

Field study: buildings in Baku's city centre and Haydar Aliyev Street in 2009 following the effects of globalisation
The aspect of globalisation, which affects all social, political, economic, and cultural life environments, mostly affected the cities, which began to resemble each other, increasingly losing their authenticity. All these changes caused by globalisation have also led to developments in the architectural environment. With the prominence of the concepts of city and urban identity, competition between cities has increased rapidly, and their architectural design strategies and expectations from architectural products have changed. With their fascinating and intriguing forms, iconic buildings, whose number and popularity are rapidly increasing, have become the architectural elements that city actors use the most in the search for identity in the globalising city.
Azerbaijan declared its independence with the dissolution of the USSR on October 18, 1991. During the initial years of independence, the country faced major problems, including a war on the border and the collapse of an economic structure dependent on the USSR system. General chaos occurred in the country between 1991-1994 and construction stagnated. The population was 7.2 million in 1990 and reached 9.6 million in 2015. More than 3 million of the population live in Baku.  (1900)(1901)(1902)(1903)(1904) (Nasirov, 2017) With the increase in oil and natural gas revenues in 2008, infrastructure and superstructure work in the country accelerated, and with this change, investments in the construction sector increased rapidly in parallel with the developments in the oil and natural gas sector. In the country, where new investments and projects are financed mainly by the private sector, the growth rate is significant in projects such as housing and business centres, and the reflections of the different and modern structures draw attention. Schools, hospitals, cultural and business centres, modern roads, and subways are rapidly increasing in the reconstructed capital Baku.

Criteria based on selection of new architectural buildings
While examining the architectural development in Baku, the areas where the new buildings are mostly built were examined, such as the west coast of the Caspian Sea, the new urban development area, Haydar Aliyev Street, as well as the architectural buildings that are scattered on a particular axis and not in terms of their form and symbolism (Fig. 9). The examples examined are selected from the architectural buildings built in the last 10-12 years. Attention has been paid to the impact and importance of the selected buildings and the architectural identity of Baku. The examples were selected according to the building's completion year, function, architecture, and location.

New buildings considered and examined within the scope of the article
The first area is the Caspian Sea West Coast, one of the principal streets of Baku, influencing the city's skyline from the sea and the new buildings, some of which are nested with the city centre and the historical centre. This region is of geographical importance as the largest port area of the Caspian Sea. At the same time, it has experienced different effects from Baku's urban development processes. The buildings selected in this section are the buildings that create a new texture and affect the city's silhouette. Buildings selected from the three analysed areas.
The buildings on Haydar Aliyev Street are considered the second analysis area. The analysis starts with the Trump Tower at the beginning of the street and ends with the National Gymnastics Arena at the end of the street. It is in the development phase with the construction of new high-rise buildings in the middle of the street in recent years. Generally, public institutions and private buildings are projected (Fig. 10).
In the third important structures elsewhere, the buildings located in different places in the city centre and are important in terms of form and symbol are examined. We will examine a total of five buildings. Four of these buildings were built by Azeri architect Neriman Imameliyev. Almost all of the buildings mentioned earlier were built by non-Azeri architects. Since the subject is identity, the architect must live in that city to produce exceptional products. In this respect, the conclusions reached in this part of the analysis are exciting. Within the scope of the article, 27 buildings were considered and analysed (Tables 1-4). Five cultural buildings, one commercial and one commercial-hotel-residence building, three sports buildings, six office buildings, four offices-administration, one hotel-office, and one residential building. • Architect: Seventeen buildings were built by non-Azerbaijani architects and architectural companies. The five buildings examined were built by Azerbaijani architects. • Location: In the region considered the Caspian Sea West Coast, three buildings are located on Nobel Street, two on Ahad Yagubov Street, and three on Neftçiler Street. Seven are located on Heydar Aliyev Street, one on Büyükşor Highway, and one on Babak street near Heydar Aliyev Avenue. Other important buildings are on Parlamento Avenue, Bülbül Avenue, R. Behbudov Street, and C. Memmedguluzade Street. According to the criteria that affect the architectural identity developed in examining the buildings, the following findings have been reached. • Spatial Organisation: As seen from the analysis, the spatial organisation variation of the 22 buildings built in Baku in the last twelve years is as follows: the central space is dominant, grouped around a certain number of secondary spaces; eleven buildings have a central space.
The linear space where the linear space organisations extend radially is five. Three buildings were found with radial space organisation. According to common visual character affinity, two have clustered organisational features. One building has grid spatial organisation features. • Temporal Organization: While examining the temporal organisation of the buildings, eighteen buildings with modern architectural characteristics, transformation, break from tradition, and change. Buildings with architectural continuity features, whose relationship with the past was conceived during the design process, were found. Among these buildings, Gülüstan Konutları, Şur Plaza, Çırak Plaza were built with a modern approach, even though they have architectural continuity. • Semantic Organisation: The semantic organisation of buildings was found to be symbol-oriented in eleven buildings and functional in one for nature and another in ten buildings. The Flame Tower and Socar Tower are likened to the flame and torch. Almost the same meaning has been reached. A semantic organisation for culture has not been found. • Building Form: Two buildings were designed in prime form, seven in regular form, two as dimensional transformations of form, five in subtractive at the same time articulated, and six in articulated form. The formal conflicts of geometry have twice been encountered. Rotated grey has never been found. • Relation to Context: The relationship of the buildings with the context was deliberately made by separating from the context in twelve and found a conflicted relationship with the context. Two buildings that contrast with their surroundings are seen as opposites, while the other eight are seen by nature and the buildings surrounding them. • Material: Only glass was used in seventeen buildings, while glass and composite materials were used together in the other thirteen, and three used only composite and two innovative mixed materials. Sustainable materials were seen in two buildings and innovation in three buildings. A local material, aglay stone, was found in one building. Concrete has never been used. • Iconic Feature: The features of the buildings designed by the wellknown architect of the Beyaz city office building, Alev Towers and Kresent Hotel meet the iconic building characteristics with their large-scale projects. Heydar Aliyev centre meets iconic architectural features with all its features.

Evaluation
It can be understood from the discussions that many largescale buildings with different functions that have not been seen in the architectural history of Baku have been built there in the last ten to twelve years. Heydar Aliyev cultural centre building was designed in contrast to the fabric of Baku and brought radical innovation to the area. The contrast of the centre with the context is seen as a positive situation for the city in search of a new identity.
The congress centre building was designed using actual climate data, a first in Baku architecture, and such a trend in architecture is very positive. The construction of sustainable buildings is also a favourable situation.
Agglay stone, one of the materials, is used in the restoration of old buildings and the construction of residential buildings, but not in the significant buildings discussed, as the material is not used in innovative designs.
Only in the spatial organisation of these buildings, versus the use of materials, form and design, does the diversity seem limited. The buildings are designed to achieve more of an image. While reaching the image, local cultural symbols expressing the flame (Flame Towers), the torch (Socar Tower), the crescent (Kresent Hotel) of Azerbaijan come to life in the buildings. While similar to other architectural buildings in the World, they have remained far from local architectural originality. A semantic organisation for culture has not been found. This situation negatively affects the architectural identity.

Results and recommendations
Baku is a city with different architectural styles from different periods. The architectural development, together with the formation of political and social events, especially in the 19 th century, continues from the end of the century until today. The originality of Baku is that it contains beautiful examples of architectural trends appropriate for the policy of every period it went through. The currents that emerged in the period of constructivism, Stalinism, or socialism after the period of early capitalism were in harmony with the existing architectural forms, sometimes accidentally, sometimes consciously. For example, the constructivism current "box architecture" described was already very close to local architectural forms.    Alternatively, the character of the Stalinist architectural movement used national elements in the design of buildings, similarly during socialism. Therefore, there was an environment to ensure architectural continuity. Moreover, in these times, attention was paid to protecting certain urban planning strategies at the state level, which created harmony in the city. During these periods, attention was given to seeing the sea from certain parts of the city and preserving the city's silhouette.

NAME OF BUILDING
Baku has experienced rapid development in the construction sector, especially in the last twelve years, which was discussed during the independence period. Largescale buildings, unseen in Baku's architectural history, were built. Various functional buildings were built as a result of social events. This development has positively affected the construction and architectural environment in general. For example, the Heydar Aliyev Centre building, with its World famous design, the Congress Centre building that is designed sustainably using climate data, and the Mugam Centre building with its original design are positive illustrations of this process.
Due to this rapid development, some problems have emerged, and architectural continuity has begun to disappear. New buildings are now transforming into new symbols of Baku, while the city has begun to lose its old texture. For example, the building that symbolised Baku until twelve years ago was the Maiden's Tower, built in the XII century; now, it is replaced by buildings such as Alev Kuleler and Heydar Aliyev Centre. This situation shows the rapid modernisation of Baku and the effects of globalisation. Modernity has affected the continuity of urban identity. While the 29-year-old republic focuses on the intense modern city image, the interesting urban and architectural texture formed by the period it has lived through has been affected.
First, of the regions, the Caspian Sea West Coast is the region that requires a sensitive approach with the intense settlement of architectural heritage. In this context, attention should be especially paid to the scale and designs of the buildings built in this region. For example, the Cresent Development project, located on the west coast of the Caspian Sea, in Neftçiler Street, negatively affects the silhouette and texture of this region with its size. Although Port Baku Tower is an excellent example of form, it poses the same problem with the poorly selected location. It should be noted that Neftçiler Caddesi is the most important, with its historical structure, among the analysed regions.
The reason for these problems is not pay attention to city planning. Developed countries develop progressive strategies to preserve the historical texture of the city. The best example of this is the Paris La Défense region in France. Located on the edge of Paris, this area is reserved for constructing skyscrapers to preserve the city skyline and its historical texture. Such an approach can also be developed in Baku. While researching the buildings, we see that most of their architects are foreign. Heerim architect-designed three skyscrapers and the Olympic stadium. It is usual for foreign architects to participate in constructing new designs for Azerbaijan, as buildings of an unprecedent number have been built in Baku's construction history. However, if the subject is identity, the importance of the participation of Azerbaijani architects in the city's development is essential. If development proceeds with the participation of Azerbaijani architects, the general architectural environment will be positively affected. It is not coincidental that the best examples of architectural continuity are the buildings built by Azerbaijani architect Neriman Imameliyev.
In this development, attention was paid to the surprising and large scale of some buildings, while attention was not sufficiently given to the design approach in small buildings.
As a result of the research, we have seen insufficient diversity in spatial organisation, semantic organisation, and material use among buildings in Baku. In the design of the spatial organisation, cultural features can be taken as a basis, and innovative design strategies can be developed. The increase in this diversity positively affects the new era of architecture. Modernity can be achieved by constructing innovative designs by guiding existing problems rather than constructing extroverted symbolic buildings. For example, when city buildings with no colour are designed in Baku, such domestic problems should be addressed, and attention should be paid to constructing colourful and green buildings. Şur Plaza constitutes an example of a beautiful colourful building in Baku, but there is no green building example in the study.
If attention is paid to the modern use of the local material, aglay stone, an original development will occur. During the socialist period, aglay stone was used skillfully in this way. While creating the city's modern identity, more attention should be paid to the connection with the past and its immediate surroundings. As such, more realistic buildings emerge.
The design approach of the Islamic Arts Museum in Doha, located in the capital of Qatar, has been achieved by using the local architectural features of the city to achieve a modern and, at the same time, original appearance. It sets a good example with its suitability to the space, culture, and geography. Technology and design were approached brilliantly in the Institut du Monde Arabe building, using Arabic patterns to highlight identity.
One of the reasons for using the Islamic Art Museum Building in Doha as an example is that its cultural and geographical structure is similar to Baku -The Museum of Islamic Art is located on the southern tip of the bay of Doha, the capital of Qatar, and is a port city like Baku. The famous architect Ieoh Ming Pei designed the building, skillfully attaining an image containing identity through the empty cube form unique to Islamic architecture with stone material from above. The building is considered one of the symbols of Doha.
Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World): An example that carries intense architectural identity elements but also includes innovative ideas with its design. France's continuing relationship with Islamic culture is also embodied in the facade of the Institute, designed by Jean Nouvel. This forward-thinking design from 1987, which is far from the traditional, more serious building appearance, also has high-tech walls adorned with mechanical gaps that can shrink and expand to control illumination and prevent overheating during the day.
To determine the elements that make up the urban identity, it is important to correctly define and perceive the environment. While determining the urban identity, the mutual relations of the natural environment, social structure, socio-cultural structure, and artificial environment should be considered and evaluated as a whole.
Urban identity, like the city concept, is a multidimensional model of process, place, and human relations. Urban identity is a multidimensional concept just like the city concept. Process, place, human relations, etc. It is possible to give different definitions. In this context, different scales and interpretations in each city have their characteristics and form their identity. Urban identity is the accumulation of cultural, physical, historical, socio-economic, and formal factors brought about by a process extending from the past to the future. Baku has also accumulated its original architectural heritage over different periods. To preserve continuity, attention should be paid to the location of the building, its relationship, and context with the construction of new buildings. If buildings are to be built in the city's historical area, it is essential to pay attention to their scale and design.
Accordingly, it is anticipated that new strategies be developed in city and regional planning; attention needs to be focused on urban and regional development. The building and its relation with context, form, and the innovative use of local materials require increased emphasis to ensure architecture with identity and continuity.