Can appreciation for urban water heritage and awareness of the present-day water crisis be connected in mutually beneficial ways? What are the contributions that heritage specialists, historians, archaeologists, conservation architects, urban planners, designers and policy makers can make towards developing integrated solutions?

In the autumn of 2022, the Netherlands Institute in Turkey (NIT) offered a graduate-level course program entitled "NIT Urban Heritage Lab: Water Heritage for Sustainable Cities". It explored innovative ways to develop informed strategies to promote urban sustainability in times of climate crisis through the use of tangible and intangible water heritage. This book presents proposals that were developed by four interdisciplinary and international teams as part of the course.

 Cite as:

Verhoeven, Mariëtte, Gerritsen, Fokke, Arslan, Aysel, Cecchetti, Alvise, & Özçakır, Özgün. (2023). Water Heritage for Sustainable Cities. Proposals for the Revalorization of the Valens Aqueduct in Istanbul. Istanbul: Netherlands Institute in Turkey.

Table of Contents

Preface: Linking Water Heritage and Water Crisis
Fokke Gerritsen

Water Heritage for Sustainable Cities: An Overview
Özgün Özçakır, Fokke Gerritsen, Aysel Arslan

Water for the City: Istanbul's Water Infrastructure in History
Mariëtte Verhoeven

Gamifying Istanbul's Forgotten Water Heritage
Onur Atay

Assessing Contemporary Perception and Appreciation of the Valens Aqueduct
Aysel Arslan, Hatice Ayataç, Eda Ünlü Yücesoy, Yonca Atabay

Project Proposals
Reconceiving the Source of Life of the City Through Intervention - Intersection - Interaction - Integration
Zeynep Akgül, Nihan Bulut, Öykü Çömez, Eser Epözdemir, İdil Ece Şener

Pursuing Water Through a Historical and Permeable Ecological Corridor: An Open-Air Museum Concept
Alvise Cecchetti, Beste Nur İskender, Gamze Özmertyurt, Merve Okkalı Alsavada, Müge Yaylacık

The Valens Aqueduct as an Urban Living Lab: Integrating Networks, Enhancing Interfaces, and Revealing the Identity
Cem Almurat, Gökhan Okumuş, Itminan Tasneea, Özge Özeke Eski, Sıla Akman Aşık

Field of Flowing Memory: Bringing Water Back to the City
Dilara Ayşegül Kökten, Gökçen Özalp, Sunay Paşaoğlu, Imke Seising, Tuğçe Sözer

Reflections on Project Proposals
A Creative Workshop for the Sustainability of Historical Urban Water Infrastructure Heritage
Akgün İlhan

Learning from Istanbul's Water Heritage: The case for site-sensitive nature and heritage-based interventions
Suzanne Loen