"Mapping the Unseen: recovering living heritage and supporting community-led relocation through data-driven approaches" is an action research project documenting the way of life of the Dom community in Antakya, who had lived in the city for over 60 years before the 2023 earthquakes displaced them. Carried out jointly with Sivil Düşler Derneği and supported by University College London (UCL), it has two aims: to document the Dom's living spaces in the city centre, many of which were destroyed in the earthquakes, and to build a body of evidence that can help the community negotiate with the authorities for fair and culturally appropriate relocation.

In a "living heritage" workshop held in the Büyükdalyan I container city in May 2025, around 25 Dom community members explored what living heritage means to them and helped define what should be researched and what kind of data collected to document their pre-earthquake community and shared culture. Ten of them then became community researchers, surveying 75 households across the container cities where Dom families now live. Twelve in-depth interviews also captured residents' memories of their former homes and neighbourhoods. By mapping and visualising how the Dom once lived, the project identified the places and elements they value and want to carry into the future.

Drawing on the community's own accounts, the project identified what matters most for relocation: staying together, which is essential to sustaining their way of life and their Domari mother tongue; living close to the city centre and its services; affordable housing with secure tenure; and home designs that reflect how the Dom live, allowing extended families to live close by and residents to adapt their living spaces over time.

Rather than proposing ready-made solutions, the project focused on gathering and visualising knowledge that can support advocacy for living spaces that reflect the community's culture, practices and needs, and help ensure the Dom remain an integral part of Antakya's cultural and social fabric.

A presentation at the “Living Heritage” forum in Büyükdalyan I, where participants identified valued aspects of pre-earthquake life, their associated spaces, and the data needed to document them and support relocation.

Walking through Büyükdalyan I, one of the largest container settlements in Antakya, where most displaced Dom families lived in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

An in-depth dwelling-drawing interview inside one of the containers in Büyükdalyan I, reconstructing the pre-earthquake built environment and the everyday practices and ways of life shaped around it.