Abstract
Turkistan occupies a unique position within Kazakhstan and the wider Turkic world as a centre of spiritual heritage, historical memory, and contemporary urban development. Despite growing scholarly attention to tourism, heritage management, and urban growth, limited research has examined how cultural symbols contribute to the construction of urban identity and meaning. This study investigates the semiotic role of cultural symbols in Turkistan’s urban transformation. An interdisciplinary qualitative approach combining urban semiotics, discourse analysis, and visual analysis was employed. The study examined official policy documents, development strategies, tourism materials, architectural projects, visual representations, and urban design elements produced between 2018 and 2025. The analysis was guided by Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere and Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital. The findings identify three interconnected symbolic dimensions within Turkistan’s urban landscape: Sacred Centres, Modern Signifiers, and Spatial Narratives. The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi functions as the city’s primary symbolic anchor, while contemporary projects and urban design elements integrate narratives of spirituality, cultural continuity, heritage, and modernisation. Together, these dimensions create a coherent symbolic environment that shapes perceptions of identity and urban development. The study contributes to research on urban semiotics and heritage-based urbanisation by demonstrating how cultural symbols actively participate in the construction of contemporary urban identity.