Abstract
In every culture commercial spaces and consumer goods communicate cultural meaning through social rituals. Shopping spaces in the Ottoman city were shaped by cultural aspects and they were developed spontaneously together with the changing dynamics of public life and activity. But, today the enormously productive world economy makes consumption a way of life and todayâs society in general seeks personal satisfaction in consumption. Products, marketing strategies, customer expectations and âspaces of exchangeâ change at an ever-increasing rate. Old commercial centres and spaces of exchange struggle to catch up with these changes while new shopping malls increase in number. This paper discusses the change in the meaning of shopping and shopping places by examining the historic commercial spaces and todays shopping environments in Istanbul.
Highlights
Introduction more concentratedJust like the Ottoman city, the bazaar did not come to being at once; it developed spontaneously in time according to the needs of the society.Commercial activity has always been one of the main components of public life
The arasta was developed as a part of a complex in order to meet its expenses. It differentiated from other commercial buildings with its linear configuration composed of a pedestrian axe lined with shops on both sides and it supported the flow between important structures of the city
If change is determined by the dominance of commercial profits without revealing the potentials of the existing environment, the bazaar can lose its particular role as being a commercial space of 550
Summary
The Ottoman city used to develop around a nucleus composed of a complex of buildings including the mosque, han, bath and bazaar. In small-scale shops, the craftsman was the shopkeeper Many of these craftsmen worked with young men called “çırak” and they used to teach all the ingenuities of the craft to the young. The shopkeeper would send his second client to his neighbour if he had not sold anything yet [4] In this sense the bazaar was not a commercial centre but it was the place for exchange for everything about human. In time in the area between these two bedestens, new streets lined with shops began to develop and the whole area was devoted to commerce (Figure 2)
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