An Unfinished Urban Modernization Project: Mersin Tramway Line

The 19th century is a process in which large projects are made for modernization in the world. The fact that capitalist economic relations begin to dominate the whole world in this process shows that modernity is spreading rapidly in the same proportion. At this point, the shortening of the distance, the speed and the time have gained importance, and therefore the road projects have been emphasized more intensely. In this context, it is necessary to analyze how the Ottoman Empire is influenced by this process particularly and what channels it has infiltrated for our research. When you look at an all-out urban modernization project, it is obvious that the place and importance of road works have a great importance. For this reason, Mersin Tramway Line, which is our study topic, has been considered as a part of this all-out modernization project, which is mentioned as a priority both internationally and nationally. Throughout the research, we try to understand how the tramway line plays a role as a modernizing actor in a rural port city that is beginning to develop in the process, which has been analyzed. It is also one of the objectives of the research to determine the reason for why this project has been unfinished and what it means to build a tramway in the 19th century, which is still not available in the 21st century of Mersin. In the scope of the study, it was observed when the construction of the tramway line started in Mersin, by whom, and for what purpose it was built