TY - JOUR AU - Turkan, Zihni PY - 2020/06/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Sustainability in the Formation and Development of Historical Cities: “Nicosia Historical City Texture” JF - European Journal of Sustainable Development JA - EJSD VL - 9 IS - 2 SE - DO - 10.14207/ejsd.2020.v9n2p250 UR - https://ecsdev.org/ojs/index.php/ejsd/article/view/1025 SP - 250 AB - <p>The formation of the historical city texture of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, began during the Lusignan Period.&nbsp; St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Catherine Church, which have an important place in the formation of the texture, are two of the few works of art still surviving today.&nbsp; Being a period of destruction for the city, in general, The Venetian Period provided the city walls to Nicosia which still surround the historical texture.&nbsp; The Ottoman Period brought a change to the historical city texture and Islamic culture and Turkish Architectural construction style replaced the Christian cultures.&nbsp; A number of architectural works from this period, still existing within the walled city of Nicosia, provided a great contribution to the formation and development of the present day texture, as well as for its sustainability.&nbsp; The British Period is one which brought novelty to the city texture of Nicosia.&nbsp; With demolition of historical works and changes in the street and square dimensions, British Colonial Architecture displays the traces of the recent past.&nbsp; The administrative buildings constructed in place of the demolished Lusignan Palace, still serve at present.&nbsp; With the beginning of the Period of the Republic in 1960, Nicosia underwent a fast process of development as an important capital in the Middle East.&nbsp; The traditional visuality in the city texture left its place to contemporary constructions and formations.&nbsp; The inter-communal conflicts, which started in 1964 on the other hand, negatively affected the formation and development of the city texture, and there was a period of stagnation until the 70s.&nbsp; The new developments observed since the 70s and the insufficiency of precautions to protect historical texture, caused a deterioration the city texture.&nbsp; With the position of an open-air museum, Nicosia with its history of over twenty-five centuries has a very rich historical city texture with the legacies of various cultures which reigned over Cyprus and is sustainable in the present, and is therefore an important cultural and touristic center</p><p><em>Keywords: Cyprus, Nicosia, Historical City Texture, Walled City, Sustainability.</em></p> ER -