The Urban Morphology of Edirne

Abstract

Serving as a cultural center and a border and a university town, Edirne is an important city of Turkey. Edirne also has historical significance as one of the three historical capitals of the Ottoman Empire (the other two are Bursa and Istanbul, respectively). The history of Edirne dates back to the 35th century BCE. This historically prosperous city hosts many monuments from the Ottoman period; however, there are only a few urban and architectural remains from other periods.
The creation of the form of the city of Edirne is an example of synoecism, by which a group of small elements in an open pattern of organization, i.e., not subject to a rigid preconceived order, coalesce over time to form a larger entity.
The form of Edirne is the result of three distinct types of urban development that are characteristic of three eras in the city's history: Roman/Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern. The Roman/Byzantine form was incorporated into the Ottoman city that, in turn, was converted into a more homogeneous form in the modern era. Both the Roman/Byzantine and Ottoman patterns persist in the modern city. In this article, the city of Edirne is considered as a whole and the morphology of Edirne is shown to be an organic urban development model.