Scope

 

Istanbul Time Machine is a digital research and visualization initiative that explores the urban fabric of late Ottoman Istanbul (c. 1880–1940). Focusing on selected neighborhoods in the historic core of the city, the project investigates how urban space, everyday life, and historical change intersected within Istanbul’s evolving built environment.

 

Rather than offering a single, fixed reconstruction, the project develops a flexible digital city environment that brings together different types of historical evidence. This approach enables users to examine urban change over time, trace spatial patterns, and reflect on how historical experiences were embedded in the city’s material and social structures.

 

Developed at the Humanities DataLab of the Institute of Population and Social Research, Marmara University, Istanbul Time Machine operates at the intersection of research, education, and public engagement. The project provides an open-access digital platform designed for scholars, students, and wider audiences interested in Istanbul’s urban past and in innovative approaches to digital urban history.

 

How It Works

 

Istanbul Time Machine is built around an integrated digital research framework that connects historical sources with spatial exploration and visual interpretation.

 

The project brings together diverse historical materials related to Istanbul’s urban history and translates them into a structured digital environment. These materials are examined in relation to urban space, allowing historical phenomena to be explored in their spatial and temporal contexts.

 

The resulting digital city environment supports interactive exploration, thematic inquiry, and time-based navigation. Users can move through different layers of the city, observe patterns of continuity and change, and engage with Istanbul’s urban past through a dynamic and exploratory interface.

 

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