Formation and Sustainability in Historical Squares: An Analysis on The Example of Nicosia Historical Urban Texture

Abstract

Squares, which are social meeting and community areas of societies, have shaped important public open spaces of settlements. Located in historical urban textures, such spaces are also a source reflecting the history of the city with the artefacts from their formation processes. The squares acquired their identity through surrounding formations from different periods in the history of Cyprus and have come to the present day with their active lives. Sarayönü, Selimiye and ?nönü squares in the walled city of Nicosia have developed from their first formation during the Lusignan period of the island up until Venetian, Ottoman, British, Republic of Cyprus. The historical squares, which completed their development relatively during the British period, have been damaged by multi-storey reinforced concrete buildings, which are controversial and incompatible with traditional architecture, added to their textures because of inadequacies in protection, especially after the mid-1970s, and their historical textures have lost their sustainability. This study aims to analyse the historical squares in Nicosia, which have been formed over a period of more than eight hundred years with cultural heritage works from different civilisations, and to reveal the damage caused to their identities by incompatible buildings added to their textures and the importance of sustainability in historical textures with protection. 

Keywords: Square, sustainability, texture, Nicosia, historical