A Fragile Relationship: Waterfront Revitalization Programs and Built Heritage by the comparative study of Galata (Istanbul) and Mersey Riverside (Liverpool)

This study aims to examine the relationship between the waterfront revitalization processes and urban waterfront heritage comparatively focusing on historical developments in the context of longue durée spatial transformation, and considering the strategy, management, planning, legislation, and implementations of the change by analyzing two historical port areas. The study will investigate these issues over Galata Waterfront (Istanbul) and Mersey Riverside (Liverpool). The multi-layered historical waterfront of Galata has recently experienced a drastic change under the Galataport Project; simultaneously, Liverpool with an outstanding legacy of the maritime image has undergone a comprehensive change through the implementation of waterfront regeneration programs lately, especially with the Liverpool Waters Project. The development, transformation, and metamorphosis of these thresholds have been a critical phenomenon predominantly in recent history within the changing global and local dynamics. Rethinking these alterations over the two influential ports in history that reflect analogies and disparities in terms of their past, evolvement, context, and impact areas yet an akin controversiality of the actual regeneration scopes enables to focus on a broader perspective. Therefore, the clashes/overlaps or co-existence/asynchrony of the recent developments, their correlation with the existing waterfront urban structure, and principally with the architectural and urban heritage are the focal points of the study.