Spatial Traces of the Cotton Industry in Ceyhan: The Case of the Ceyhan Cotton Gin Factory

Abstract

This study examines the spatial traces of the cotton industry in Ceyhan through the Ceyhan
Ginning Factory, focusing on how cotton-based production shaped urban memory in the
Çukurova region. In the late Ottoman and early Republican periods, ginning, pressing, storage
and railway-linked transport operated as an integrated network. The research reads this
network through architectural form and spatial organization rather than treating the factory as
a standalone building. Methodologically, it combines on-site architectural survey with spatial
mapping and a contextual reading of the factory’s relations to nearby industrial premises,
storage areas and the railway station. The findings suggest that the ginning factory functioned
as a spatial node that organized material flows and contributed to the city’s industrial identity.
By evidencing continuity and rupture within this network, the study offers a region-specific
framework for documenting and conserving cotton-related industrial heritage in Çukurova.