Ottoman Architecture is the first modern history of Ottoman architecture written by Ottomans themselves, yet it is little known outside the field of late Ottoman studies. This magnificently-illustrated volume codifies the empire’s architectural history into a series of preliminary stages culminating in the efflorescence of the Ottoman classical tradition in the 16th century. At the same time, the text positions this imperial architectural legacy in relation to modernising projects in the late Ottoman Empire; in particular, the 'Ottoman architectural Renaissance' sponsored by Sultan Abdülaziz (r. 1861 face=Calibri>–1876). Moreover, as has been argued in other research, architecture is a prism through which the authors offer a larger analysis of modernity in the Ottoman Empire; an analysis where built heritage serves 'as an index for various stages in the transformation of the Ottoman state and civilization'.

Challenging existing political analyses of the state of emergency in Turkey, this volume argues that such states are not merely predetermined by policy and legislation but are produced, regulated, distributed and contested through the built environment in both embodied and symbolic ways. Contributors use empirical critical-spatial research carried out in Turkey over the past decade, exploring heritage, displacement and catastrophes. Contributing to the broader literature on the related concepts of exception, risk, crisis and uncertainty, the book discusses the ways in which these phenomena shape and are shaped by the built environment, and provides context-specific empirical substance to it by focusing on contemporary Turkey. In so doing, it offers nuanced insight into the debate around emergency as well as into recent urban-architectural affairs in Turkey.