An Historical Overview of Urbanization and the Infrastructure System during the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

This study aims to uncover the interrelation between the urban development and the infrastructure in the Ottoman Empire. It reviews the Othman Empire that examines the evolution of Othman cities (their growth and development process from a particular point in time) and the factors that cause the urban growth as well as the strategies that the empire employed to keep this expansion managed. The emphasis will be on the supporting urban systems that made these cityhood possible, exploring the establishment, management, and operation of key elements such as water supply distribution networks, communications routes, and public buildings. The paper will be focused on the impact of construction infrastructure on different functions of urban life such as trade, cleaning system, and unionism. Furthermore, the study will investigate how infrastructure was used as a tool of imperial governance, imperialism, and the expansion of Ottoman power on its boundaries. The aim of this presentation is to explore in detail the interrelationship between urbanization and infrastructure of Ottoman cities. It will thus produce the social, economic and political dynamics as well that shaped cityscapes during this Ottoman period.

Keywords: Urbanization, Infrastructure, Ottoman Empire, Water Supply, Imperialism