In this book, the correspondence between Hermann Jansen, who undertook the physical planning of the capital, and the Ankara City Development Directorate are compiled along with plans in various scales, sketches and perspective drawings, which were the subject of these correspondence in order to shed light on the preparation and implementation of Ankara’s urban development plans in the early Republican period. In this context, 77 correspondence directly related to urbanism and urban development are presented to the readers. Considering that it will be useful to researchers, an index of subject, concept, place and person names has also been produced based on plans and correspondence. Jansen plans in METU Faculty of Architecture Map and Plans Documentation Unit and Berlin Technical University Architecture Museum Archive were examined and matched with the plans referenced in the correspondence. The plans and sketches in the book are geographically positioned on an online satellite image and made available interactively. On the other hand, the photographs and aerial photographs belong to that period -were matched with the relevant correspondence and plans in terms of giving information and creating an image of the places discussed.
In the correspondence between 1930-1938, the planning and zoning of the city, the preservation of the historical city, urban life, urban services and public health, the implementation of plans and construction, urban aesthetics and building order stand out as key concepts and issues. Hermann Jansen’s planning approach, which is modest and responsive to the economic dimension in the formation of the city; pays attention to simplicity and rational solutions in the production of the urban space; and is based on the concern of shaping the whole and the social approach, is available to the reader in the correspondence. It could also be observed how this approach affected the determination of the Ankara Zoning Plan competition result. On the other hand, the correspondence reflects the meanings gained by the principled view of planning and modern quest in terms of urbanism, which existed in the compelling conditions during the first years of the Republic.