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This article aims to explore the changes and continuity in housing patterns of Turkish society comparing traditional and contemporary usage. In this context, the spatial and social structures of housing patterns are studied comparatively from an historical perspective. The article is based on research projects carried out by the author that aimed to identify the effects of socio-cultural and psychological factors on the spatial formation, meaning and use of domestic space in different types of Turkish dwellings. Examples chosen from a number of case studies in different housing patterns are mainly those of the Middle Asian Tent, the Traditional Turkish House and Squatter Housing ‘Gecekondu’. The article consists of six sections. In the first two, the aim and the general concept of the paper are defined, the research field is explained and the problem is specified. In the third section, the formation of spatial setting in different housing pattern of Turkish settlers will be analysed by comparing the tent, traditional house and squatter house. The fourth section focuses on related theoretical concepts in environmental behavioural studies with the conceptual model of culture and space interaction system in terms of meaning and use of home space. In the last two sections, the field study is presented and the article builds on the findings of the case studies to offer some proposals for new design principles.

During the 20^th century, accelerating developments in construction, transportion and information technologies have made it possible to create environments almost anywhere on the planet which are no longer a product of locally available resources nor a response to local climatic conditions. Perhaps more critically still, the intimate interrelationship between built environments and the cultural values of those who build and inhabit them have been fractured. It is now possible to construct buildings and places which respond to the value systems of lifestyles and decision makers on different continents. We are all too familiar with these examples of universal design which reflect and privilege the values of so-called global culture at the expense of local cultures.