Abstract:

One of the most important heritage remaining from the Ottoman Republic to the Republic of Turkey is railways and railway stations. The policy towards modernization/development of the country in the early Republic era is a fact that the railway network was built on the spread throughout the country. In this context, the railway stations and equipment can also be considered as part of the project of modernizing the city and town, with its socio-cultural content. In the study, the contribution of Kayseri Railway Station and Station Street to the local and social change/transformation of the city was examined. In the example of the Kayseri Railway Station in the early Republic (1929) the impact of its structure and related equipment on the physical surroundings of the city; new roads, residential areas, public areas and modern landscape arrangements and after the city center (along with the Sumerbank settlement in 1935) can be summarized as a new drawing center in the north of the city. In its social dimension, the Station Building and its surrounding Station Street have hosted many actions, from educational activities to national holiday celebrations, which reflect the visibility and strength of the nation-state. With its modern housing shaped around the street, it can also be claimed that it was the first intersection where the connection of the Kayseri people to modern life was established. In this framework, beyond the structure scale of the Railway Station and Station Street, the reward in the urban area, in other words, the local and social change / conversion that it provides is read by "Kayseri city's own local parameters". Thus, in the framework of the Kayseri Railway Station, the city has also received clues to keep light on the modernization process of the Early Republic Period. With the assumption that similar events/changes may occur in all Anadolu cities and local differences may have been experienced, this study is expected to draw attention to the addition to the literature by researching the train station equipment and the relationship with the city.