**4. Characteristics of case study area**

Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. Since the tweleveth century, Nicosia has been the capital of Cyprus. It is the only town located inland and therefore isolated. Coastal towns were repeatedly destroyed by hostile invasions, so the capital was moved inland. Still, there is a large area southeast of the old city that appears to have been inhabited for about 5,000 years. Cyprus was inhabited by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in 1960. The peaceful coexistence of the Greek and Turkish communities came to an end in late 1963, with the outbreak of a political crisis and intercommunal violence. Turkish Cypriots withdrew from the joint institutions. The United Nations has sent peacekeepers to the island for the first time, and it still exists.

This study; The Arabahmet region, which is one of the oldest historical settlements and cultural heritages of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, located within the borders of Nicosia, the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and a part of the Arabahmet region currently within the borders of the T.R.N.C., and the lands of Southern Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It was studied in the area that covers the area under the control of the United Nations (**Figure 1**). Arabahmet district is located in the west of the walled city of Nicosia, in an area extending to Zahra Bastion in the north, Kaytazağa Bastion in the south and Sarayonu Square in the east.

This region; It is a region that has witnessed many urban and periodical experiences over a wide period of time, and is still in progress. In this settlement pattern, it is one of the settlement areas where we rarely have the chance to see both the official and civil effects of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Republic periods together on a city. With these features, with its historical and socio-cultural richness, it is a great cultural heritage for the TRNC as well as the world heritage (**Figure 2**).

The settlement effects and periods in the Nicosia-Arabahmet Region are respectively; It can be classified as the Lusignan Period (1192–1489), the Venetian Period (1489–1571), the Ottoman Period (1571–1878), the British Period (1878–1960), the Republic of Cyprus (1960-\_\_\_) and the Post-1974 Period. The Lusignan Period (1192–1489) is known as one of the important building blocks affecting the historical and physical identity of the Arabahmet Region. Narrow roads, squares, orchards, conjoined houses with flat roofs and inward-looking courtyards are the characteristic features of the urban identity formed in this period. The streets in the region were developed in an organic and irregular way, and squares were created at the

#### **Figure 1.**

*Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Map and Plan view of the Arabahmet District of Nicosia Walled City [52].*

**Figure 2.** *Architectural texture characteristic of the historical Arabahmet district.*

intersections of the streets. Local material yellow stone was used in the buildings of this period and the courtyards of the houses were designed as the main places where life took place. The Ottoman Period (1571–1878), after the Lusignan and Venetian Periods, emerges as the most important period that shaped the outlines of the current silhouette of Arabahmet [53].

The narrow streets and the building with inward-looking courtyards, which started in the Lusignan Period, were continued with the influence of climatic factors. While the buildings create the effect of the wall that defines the street, when entering the courtyard through the porch, a high-privacy interior life setup and the spatial organization of the residences are created. In general, it is known that the buildings in good condition in the region were preserved during the Ottoman Period and the houses of the period were built on the protected buildings. In other words, the ground floors of many buildings belonged to the Lusignan and Venetian Periods, while the upper floors were built during the Ottoman Period. The adjacent rows of houses are connected to each other from the back or inner courtyard, thus weakening the housestreet relationship. The streets in these old settlements had a narrow and organic structure, and the houses along this street were generally used by a single family. Referring to the "bay window" characteristic observed in Ottoman buildings during the British period (1878–1960), the balconies formed on the facades of the buildings, the verandas designed at the door entrances, the rationality and width of the windows and the street-house relationship were strengthened and thus the relationship of architecture with the city was increased [54]. Nicosia - Arabahmet District hosts different periods. It is a historical residential area of Cyprus where cultural diversity is observed. Therefore, traces of every cultural group that lived in Cyprus can be found in the Arabahmet Region [55]. Thus, the architectural and urban texture created by each period by adding to the previous period shows extremely rich and unique historical qualities.

The general aim of the study is to reveal the general potentials of the historical texture of the Arabahmet region, which is about to become a depression area due to different reasons, in many parameters, especially in physical comfort criteria. Also, it is to reveal

*Pedestrian Level Relationship between Building Forms and Streets Effects on the Condition… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108735*

the current potentials of the green line (buffer zone) texture, which is the continuation of the texture of Arabahmet, which has become a ghost town, which has now been emptied due to political reasons, and to present principles and general approaches to politicians, decision-making bodies, urban designers and architects through the potentials of this texture. Investigation of wind conditions, wind comfort and wind hazard conditions at pedestrian level for architects, city planners, researchers, consultancy companies and government officials, especially to be used in urban transformation and development project studies in this region, determination of critical points, regions and all these parameters of texture is to produce a detailed report on.

A moderate climate with hot, dry summers and wet winters characterizes the case study region. Nicosia is a city in the center of Cyprus, between longitude 33°24′E and latitude 35°09′N. The city's lengthy summer season, which lasts from April to October, is hot and dry. The warmest month of the year is often July, while January is typically the coldest. The range of wintertime temperatures is 9–12°C, while summertime highs frequently reach 42°C. The months of December through March have the most rainfall. Westerly winds with an average wind speed of 3.7 m/s are the most prevalent [56].
