THE SIGNIFICANCE OF URBAN HISTORY FOR URBAN TOURISM RESEARCH AND PRACTICES: THE CASE OF BURSA
Funda Songur
DOI: 10.35666/25662880.2015.1.93
UDC: 338.48-44:711(091)(560.128)
Abstract: Heritage is the historical result of past interactions. Urban history reveals components of that heritage in the context of a city and helps us to perceive cultural values in their unique connections. Historians have several kinds of references that are used to study urban history. Travelbooks and yearbooks, two of those historical sources, are deliberately emphasised in this study. They introduce not only tangible and intangible cultural heritage of a city as possible tools for sustainability and diversity, but also are essential references in tourism research for particularly historical academic views. Cultural heritage of today together with those lost or almost forgotten can be interpreted through urban history sources within its own methodology but in favour of urban tourism. The outcome is incomparable data for related territory. Besides, it can generate possibilities to enhance not only cliché methods for urban management but also understandings of business leaders. This paper,therefore, underlines distinctive studies of Ottoman Urban History as interdisciplinary input within tourism literature and for possible contributions in improvement of city tourism practices.Urban history studies are considered along with theperception of cultural heritage. The city Bursa is used as a case study in order to exemplify aims of this paper in wider conceptions for urban tourism research and practices. Introduced and evaluatedtravelbooksand yearbooks are hence written about Bursa. Travelbooksare especially chosen from those written by European travellers within nineteenth century. As a result, evaluation also captures perceptions of travellers in mentioned period. Yearbooks of the same era, on the other hand, are also introduced within the concept of urban tourism and cultural heritage.
Keywords: Urban History, Urban Tourism, Cultural Heritage, Bursa, Yearbook (Salnâme), Travelbook (Seyahatnâme).