47 Şentürk / Turgut Cansever Düşüncesinde Şehrin Değişimi The problem of how to change a city has been the subject of the various sub-disci- plines of social sciences. Intellectuals such as Çelik (1996), Gül (2009), Kuban (2000), Tanyeli (1998, 2004) and Tekeli (1985, 1998), with diverse backgrounds like art, sociol- ogy, history, architecture, and city planning, have addressed this change in Turkish cities, in particular, Istanbul. This study will discuss one of the said intellectuals, Turgut Cansever and his approach to change in a city. Cansever is a scholar and an architect who based his practice of architecture on a solid foundation and developed ideas in architecture (Köksal, 2014). Thus his ideas on urbanism cannot be separated from his architectural projects (Düzenli, 2009, p. 192). Cansever is also a prominent thinker to have taken an Islamic city, an Ottoman city and its architecture into account while reflecting on the transformation of architecture and cities in Turkey and then evaluate this transformation in the context of Islam and Ottoman experiences. Trying to explain yesterday and bringing solutions to today is a significant endeavor (Tanyeli, 2001, p. 9). This is precisely why Cansever is so precious, because he achieved this by emphasizing the human responsibility for beautifying his environment while always being on a new quest (Can, 2010, p. 161). This quest can be argued as different from conservative and modernist approaches. Before we define Cansever’s attitude towards change, we need to clarify some concepts such as modern, modernity, and modernization. Modern, in this study is Change in a City in Turgut Cansever’s Thought * Murat Şentürk ** Extended Abstract * The earlier version of this paper has been presented at the “Commemoration Program for Turgut Cansever” held on March 3, 2012 at Center for Islamic Research and organized by Scientiic Studies Association (ILEM) and Association Technical Employees (TEKDER). The inal version of this study appeared following the workshop held at ILEM with the title “Urban Studies Workshop: Readings on Turgut Cansever”. I am grateful to the participants of this workshop for their supports. Last but not the least; I am thankful to Muhammed Esad Tiryaki and Yunus Çolak who shared their valuable ideas with me while inalizing this paper. ** Assit. Prof, Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Sociology. Correspondence: muratsenturke@gmail.com. Address: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Sos- yoloji Bölümü, 34459, Beyazıt, İstanbul, Turkey.