IDENTIFYING THE BLOCK PATTERN OF SKOPJE'S OLD BAZAAR: Analysis of blocks' development, typology and transformation

Today the block pattern of Skopje's Bazaar, created by the Ottoman urban strategy during the 15th and 16th century, is only partially understood. The aim of this paper is to identify the block typology of the Old Bazaar by analyzing the relations between form and development. To meet the aim, we analyzed previous research, Skopje's map from 1929 and conducted field survey (09/2011). Based on the data from 1929 map, we identified two other subtypes of facility blocks from the one facility and three shop blocks described in previous research. Most of the surviving blocks still preserve their shape and structure although in some cases an alteration of the block type occurred as a result of the destruction of Ottoman facility or shop rebuilding. We concluded that the historic urban order of the ground plan and the block pattern, created by the systematic relationships of facility, shop and street in the Ottoman urban strategy, are important values of the Bazaar's urban form. As the pressure for modern development surges, the results of this study can facilitate creation of design guidelines for sustainable conservation of the urban form of Skopje's Bazaar.