The Agence Prost from Paris to İstanbul (1910s-1930s)

The book investigates the interaction of European and non-European knowledge in historic cities, emphasizing the impact on tangible and intangible cultural heritage from a postcolonial perspective. It examines the roles of various actors, including architects, urbanists, politicians, and local stakeholders, in shaping heritage-led decisionmaking processes the effects on urban memory. It particularly focuses on Henri Prost’s interventions and collaborations in the Mediterranean region during the early 20th century, exploring both colonial and postwar modernization contexts. It highlights the importance of adopting a plural perspective to comprehend the European interventions on historic cities in non-European regions and argues that this perspective is crucial for understanding local cultural heritage. Going beyond from monographic approaches of a single actor, it takes into account plural perspectives by focusing on multiple historic cities on the trace of Prost’s path from Paris to İstanbul.

Pelin Bolca, post-doctoral research fellow affiliated with Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of Politecnico di Torino (POLITO) in Italy. She is PhD in Architecture and Landscape Heritage program at POLITO and holds MSc Degree on Architecture for the Restoration and Enhancement of Heritage from the same university. She has collaborated with École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris as an invited researcher. Her research area focuses on the knowledge exchange between European and non-European contexts in the heritage-led decision processes that affects tangible and intangible cultural heritage of historic cities and the impacts on urban memory and urban identity of their inhabitants under the framework of conducting historical research by using digital tools.