CITY IDENTITY DESIGN IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE CASE OF ÇORUM

Abstract

Cities develop distinctive identities through the cultural, social, and spatial values they have accumulated over time. Globalization, increasing competition, and advances in digital communication have made it necessary for cities to develop creative identiti es based on their distinctive values. In this process, preserving historical and cultural heritage and conveying it through a contemporary visual language are important. While various practices worldwide integrate cultural heritage into city identity design, practice-based studies in this field remain limited in Türkiye. This study aims to examine how cultural heritage elements can be incorporated into city identity design through the case of Çorum and to develop visual identity applications based on local values. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the study descriptively examines visual identity examples from Porto, Covilhã, and Trogir and develops visual identity applications for Çorum within the scope of practice-based design research. The examined city examples demonstrate different ways in which local cultural and historical values can be incorporated into visual identity design. Drawing on the design approaches identified in these examples, a visual identity system based on the historical, cultural, and local values of Çorum was developed. In this context, the study presents a practice-based approach to incorporating cultural heritage into city identity through graphic design.