N. DIKER, I. DINCER AND Z. ENLIL 1 CONSERVATION OF BOSPHORUS' SPIRIT IN SPITE OF THE SPATIAL CONFLICTS AND THREATS N. DIKER, I. DINCER Yildiz Technical University, Department of City and Regional Planning Istanbul, Turkey ndiker@msn.com, iclaldincer@gmail.com AND Z. ENLIL Yildiz Technical University, Department of City and Regional Planning Istanbul, Turkey zeynepenlil@superonline.com Abstract: Istanbul has been established in a very special geography where the continents of Europe & Asia merge. It has the Historical Peninsula, Golden Horn, Galata, Beyoglu and Bosphorus sub-regions which are the natural and cultural heritage areas in Istanbul. Since 1970s, these cultural landscapes had been attempted to be conserved through some special status and rules. However, Istanbul has been an attractive center for economic investment in every period. These cultural landscape areas had been under the pressures and threats of changes and transformations as much as the whole of the city. Bosphorus area which will be investigated in this study, had become face to face with the danger of losing her identity and spirit, despite being declared as a “natural and historical conservation area”, being planned as a “conservation area”, and also being controlled by “special legal measures”. The aim of this paper is to explain the threats on the Bosphorus’ spirit as well as proposals for reducing of them. 1. Introduction: The Transformation of the Cultural Landscape in the Bosphorus Area Istanbul’s relationship with water is neither like the canal cities of Venice and Amsterdam, nor like the river cities of London, Paris and Frankfurt (Boysan, 2001). Istanbul has been a city, which grew out of its land walls rather early in its history and stretched linearly along the shorelines. This pattern of linear growth along the Bosphorus and later the Marmara Sea underlined the strong links that the city established