ABSTRACT
The typical Ottoman city consisted of a gridiron street pattern interspersed with a series of narrow, winding lanes (figure 6.1). The mosque and other important buildings were located at the centre, but as there were no formal zoning patterns for different land uses throughout the city, commercial activity developed freely within residential areas. Increasing contact with the West, however, gradually began to alter this traditional pattern; from the late nineteenth century onwards, new towns were built alongside the older ones, a process accelerated by rapid population growth and a pre-occupation with monumentalist city planning concepts from Germany and other parts of Europef 1]. At the same time, such new development was frequently complemented by piecemeal growth on the fringes of the existing built-up areas.
