Download the Congress Brochure
Print the Schedule and Procedures
Read the Words of Welcome to Istanbul
Download the Final Congress Programme
Theme and Objectives
The 2006 ISoCaRP Congress will explore the contemporary challenges and emerging opportunities that cities are facing vis-à-vis influential forces that can be summarised as integrative and disintegrative.
Read more about the Congress Theme.
Introductory Reports
General Rapporteur – Pablo Vaggione, Spain
>> Introduction GR
Parallel Session 1 – Rapporteur: Jaap Modder, Netherlands
Chair: Stephen Timms, Australia/United Kingdom
>> Introductory Report Workshop I
Parallel Session 2 – Rapporteur: Wassey Bacharyar, Afghanistan/France
Chair: Ricardo Veludo, Portugal
>> Introductory Report Workshop II
Parallel Session 3 – Rapporteur: Gavin McLachlan, South Africa
Chair: Alex Macgregor, United Kingdom
>> Introductory Report Workshop III
Parallel Session 4 – Rapporteur: Baohui Zhai, China
Chair: Opuenebo Owei, Nigeria
>> Introductory Report Workshop IV
Parallel Session 5 – Rapporteur: Fatma Unsal, Turkey
Chair: Knut Felberg, Norway
>> Introductory Report Workshop V
Congress Team
For an overview of the people making up the Congress Team, including the Rapporteurs, Scientific Committee, and Local Organising Committee (LOC), click here.
Mobile Workshop: “Connecting Cities, Connecting Istanbul”
Istanbul is a unique city in many ways: It is an ancient port-city where water acts as a dividing as well as a connecting element; connecting not only different parts of the city but also two continents: Europe and Asia. At the cross-road of civilizations, the city has always been a unique melting pot of a variety of cultures. For many centuries, Istanbul enjoyed the status of being the capital city of three world Empires each of which endowed it with many monuments. Its poetic skyline dotted with domes and slender minarets, the Grand Bazaar, the Golden Horn and the Bosporus surrounded with gently rolling hills are the most renowned features of Istanbul.
But contemporary Istanbul is much more than all these well known layers of history and natural features. It is a city of many faces, diverse in people and places. It is the heart and mind of a large industrial region where national and multinational production, and capital for that matter, is concentrated. It is the economic engine of modern Turkey. With its young and highly qualified labour the city is for sure an incubator of creativity. No wonder why Newsweek at its front cover has recently named the city as “Cool Istanbul” and addressed it as “Europe’s hippest city.” It is a thriving city of arts and culture and has recently won the bid for European Capital of Culture for 2010.
Istanbul is a city with global aspirations. Efforts to re-profile the city and integrate it with world markets since the last two decades resulted in the emergence of a new skyline of shimmering skyscrapers marking the new business district. Deluxe hotels, luxury homes, renovated historic districts and numerous shopping centres are among other elements that make-up the new face of Istanbul. Increasingly, the city is becoming a glittering star in the international property markets. Part and parcel of these global aspirations is the development of certain strategic locations through recently held international competitions, where famous professionals such as Zaha Hadid, Massimiliano Fuksas, Kisho Kurokawa, Kengo Kuma, Ken Yeang, and Winy Maas-led MVRDV group were the competitors.
Istanbul is a challenging city for those who govern it, for those who plan it, for those who build and re-build and for all those who live in it. And the picture is not always as bright as described above. There is also the other side of the coin with a rather grim picture. In this picture there are the illegally built squatter settlements with low urban quality, poverty stricken neighbourhoods and immense pressures put, by the rich and poor alike, upon the life sources of the city.
Istanbul is going through a special moment in its history of planning. For over a year, intense planning studies are carried out in the newly founded Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Centre (IMP). Here, the planners of Istanbul are striving to tackle many of these challenges: protecting historic heritage and natural resources in the face of rapidly increasing population, increasing the quality of housing and urban living, renewal of disaster-prone building stock, balancing urban development along the long stretch of the metropolitan area on the European and Anatolian sides, creating a poly-centric metropolitan structure and promoting sectors that will give Istanbul a more competitive edge in the international arena.
Participants in this Workshop will have the opportunity to experience this vibrant and dynamic city. Through site visits they will be introduced to many facets of Istanbul including the historic centre, new business district, rich and the poor neighbourhoods and will have a chance to understand first hand the tensions, dilemmas, aspirations and the tremendous urban potentials of this special city at the margins of Europe. A special session will be arranged for the exchange of ideas and experiences between the ISoCaRP members and the planners of Istanbul who are facing the challenge of connecting Istanbul, not only to the world system of cities; but also of socially and spatially integrating the diverse and fragmented parts of the city.
Congress Venue
The main Congress Venue is this Yildiz Technical University – Faculty of Architecture.
Registration Fees
Download an overview of the Registration Fees.
Partners
