hello all - I wanted to give a bit of a report on all the amazing abandoned spaces I'd seen when I was in Turkey last month. There is a rather sad aspect to all the forgotten structures - they are relics of earthquakes, many of them. Also, it seems that there are so many different hoursing standards in the country that areas can consist of groupings of architecture spanning the time of a few hundred years if not more. Near my hotel in Sultanahmet (the old city, and the most touristy spot) even walking down a few yards from a very habited area, one is suddenly struck by caved in buildings that are in a strange state of either being fully abandoned, or SLOWLY rebuilt... because of all the dogs and cats that inhabit the city, there is always one or two wandering around.
To the residents of the city, I think they see these spots as eye-sores, but of course they are amazingly beautiful and poetic.