Izmir is a living heritage place representing an historic coastal trading landscape. So far, the historical city centre has been neglected due to a lack of cooperation between the public institutions and responsible bodies.

Despite the limited efforts of the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir and the district municipality on conserving the heritage site, the holistic conservation approach and the site management plan were lacking. The beneficiaries of the Management Plan are therefore both the citizens of Izmir and specifically the shopkeepers in Kemeralti, as well as the governing authorities. With this inclusive management process, the awareness of the institutions about the heritage of the Port City of Izmir has increased and the participation of the representatives of the local community has been enriched. The full-time employed experts and professionals assigned from public institutions working together in the Site Management Office facilitated the coordination between authorities. This created a synergy between public authorities and the appointed managing body improving the governance of the heritage place.