Changes in Rural Architecture: Urbanisation in the Rural Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

The purpose of the study is to examine social and spatial changes in traditional dwellings in the central villages of Trabzon city which is part of the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. In order to determine reasons for new settlements in the rural areas of Trabzon, the villagers were interviewed. By means of the observations and interviews, whether or not the socio-economic structure of the region and the villagers’ lifestyles could have effects on the settlements was researched. Besides this, how the traditional dwellings chosen from the research area had gone through the changes in terms of structure, space, and production process was analyzed by regarding certain intervals. The study found that the natural structuring of the village and general silhouette of the rural area in which the study was conducted has changed in recent years, marked by a shift from single-storey detached houses to multi-storey apartment buildings.