SAMBLOG

Center for Urban Studies’ blog page called Samblog has begun its broadcasting with the motto of “Follow and Share with us” both in Turkish and English. The blog includes resources, institutions, people, academic programs, events, announcements, and applications to the Center as well as book reviews, workshop, and interviews creating a multi-faceted forum on urban studies.

Samblog is precisely an important platform to serve for this purpose. The Center for Urban Studies has moved its academic research on urban studies under the consultancy of our powerful academic staff to a new dimension through a comprehensive and actual blog page. This dynamic and interdisciplinary structure of the Center widened world through the Samblog.

Center for Urban Studies

Istanbul Sehir University (SEHIR) is a new university established in 2008 by a foundation in Istanbul which has been supported arts and social sciences since the 1980s. SEHIR now has 8 colleges/schools consisting of 40 undergraduate programs and 3 graduate schools including 20 MA and Ph.D. programs. It has about 5,000 undergraduate and around 1,000 graduate students. Among them there are about 1,000 international students for the language of education is in English in many departments.

The University also has 7 research centers and many research labs. One of these centers is the Centre for Urban Studies (CUS). It is a young and ambitious center, establishes itself as the forefront research center on urban studies in Istanbul. Starting from its foundation in 2011, within a very short time, CUS have proven its strong competence in urban research through attracting national and international funding for doing research, through excellent communication with national and local organizations, central and local governments, and strong personal networks with international research networks. Should present trends continue, with its academic and applied research projects, CUS presents high capacity to transform itself into a regional center of excellence.

CUS attempts to side-step the fragmented and partial approaches of conventional social science research and to produce representations and visualizations of uncharted social, cultural, historical, socio-economic landscapes, metropolitan and urban ecology, and governance systems. The research staff has a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, and reputable quantitative and ethnographic research expertise on social-spatial aspects of urban development in Istanbul. Part of the Centre’s activities now is focusing on graduate work & program on Urban Studies.

The Strengths of the CUS

Working with Big Data about the cities
Making Historical Data Analyses
Eclectic Use of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods
Data Visualization and Digital Urban Studies (GIS, Spatial and Network Mappings)
Field Studies

The research at the Center for Urban Studies focuses on three main themes:

Urban History and Heritage Cities (focus on Istanbul and cities in Turkey and the Ottoman Empire)

Analysis, representation, digital visualization and monitoring of economic & social landscapes
The emergence, consolidation and transformation of cities
Urban Heritage

Social and Spatial Change and Continuity

Contemporary urban geographies with special emphasis on Istanbul and the cities in Turkey
Comparative urban studies and global urban ethnographies

* Global city networks and Local narratives of global cities

Demographic Transitions and Migration Studies

International and internal migration (Refuges) patterns
Social integration and social exclusion

Administrative Board

Dr. Yunus Uğur, Director

Assoc.Prof. Eda Yücesoy, Deputy Director

Prof. Cem Behar

Assoc.Prof. Alim Arlı

Mehmet Genç

Consultative Board

Dr. Ahmet Bulut

Smart Cities

Dr. Aynur Can

Local Administrations

Dr. Fatih Altuğ

Urban Literature

Prof. Dr. Ferhat Kentel

Urban Anthropology

Dr. Halil İbrahim Düzenli

Architecture

Dr. Nail Yılmaz

Urban Sociology

Dr. Nicole Kançal

History of Art and Architecture

Dr. Onur Güzey

Big Data

Prof. Dr. Peyami Çelikcan

Cinema and Television

Dr. Petar Todorov

Urban Administration

Dr. Reyyan Bilge

Mental and Cognitive Maps

Salih Pulcu

Architecture and Design

Visiting Researcher

Kimberly Hart (2019)

Associate Professor Kimberly Hart from Buffalo State University will be at Istanbul Şehir University as a visiting researcher of the Center for Urban Studies. She will do the research on the project, that is supported by TUBITAK, titled as “Istanbul Street Cats and Expressions of Human Kindness and Neglect”

Kamile Batur (2018-2019)

The Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Vienna with the support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, will be a visiting researcher at the Istanbul Sehir University Center for Urban Studies. Batur will be in our center for one year during the period of 2018-2019 and she will give lectures and seminars at our university and she will conduct research on “Istanbul Between Fear and Hope: Governing by Emergency”.

Dr. Lakshmi Priya Rajendran (2018)

Anglia Ruskin University Faculty of Science and Technology, Future Cities: Heritage Cities, Transnational Interactions and Green Infrastructure

Prof. Dr. Andrii Artemenko (2018)

Kharkiv State University of Culture (Management of Culture and Social Technologies) and National University of Pharmacy, Department of Philosophy and Sociology, Istanbul Urban Area Identity Typology: Case Study

Hitomi ITO (2017-2019)

She is a PhD student in the Literatures and Humanities Graduate Program at Osaka City University in Japan. She will be a visiting researcher at İstanbul Sehir University Center for Urban Studies between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2019. During this time, she will conduct research on her project titled “The Policy Changes of Provisionalism of Istanbul and Effects on the Merchants in the 18th Century”.

Fiona Gedeon Achi (2015-2018)

She continues her research in the Anthropology Department at McGill University (Canada), has been accepted as a Visiting Researcher at İstanbul Şehir University in Center for Urban Studies. Mrs. Achi will study her research project, entitled “Randomized Humanity: An Ethnographic Inquiry into Poverty Alleviation”

Prof. Dr. Aykut Toros (2016-2017)

Dynamics of Migration and Refugee Issue in Turkey and Istanbul

Nuray Ocaklı (2016-2017)

Voynuks of Bulgaria from the 15th to the 16th Century: Determination of the Change in their Status, Mapping of the Task Regions and Settlements

Dženıta Karıć (2015-2016)

PhD Student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Centers and Environment in the Bosnian Pilgrimage Literature in the Ottoman Period

Janetta Deppa (2015-2016)

Fulbright Scholarship, Urban Transformation Policies in Istanbul

Başak Kilerci (2014-2015)

Oriental Institute, PhD Student at Oxford University, Visibility of Iranians in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Linus Vanhellemont (2015)

PhD Student of Milan-Bicocca University, Development of Spatial Policies in Istanbul

R.Gökçe Sanul (2015)

Vrije University (Brussels) PhD Student, Over the Case of Istanbul Cultural Policies of Municipalities in Turkey

Dr. Petar Todorov (2014-2015)

Az.Prof. Dr. Kiril and Metodiy University (Republic of Macedonia). Todorov, TUBITAK, 2221 Guest or Academic Permitted (Sabbatical) Scientist Support Program “City Management in the Late Ottoman Period: Politics and Administration in the Municipality of Skopje (1869-1908)” continues its research.

Thomas Ledford (2014)

Fulbright Scholarship, Migration Routes in Istanbul from 1950s to Today

Gül İnce Bego (2014)

Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano University PhD student, Migration from Istanbul to Italy

Academic Researcher

Nurdan Gür (2018-2020)

History Department PhD Student, Marmara University

Zeynep Hande Altuner (2017-2019)

Remote Sensing and GIS Master Student, Yıldız Technical University

Özge Tekçe (2018)

Urban Planning Department Master Student, Istanbul Technical University

Büşranur Bekman (2018)

Urban Studies Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University

Elif Ceyhan (2018)

Urban Studies Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University

Meryem Zişan Köker (2018)

Sociology Department Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University

Fatma Aladağ (2018)

History Department Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University,

Şehnaz Arguç Değirmenci (2015-2018)

Local Government: City and Environmental Studies Master Student, İstanbul University

Zeynep Elif Öztaner Arık (2015-2018)

Department of Architecture Master Student, Yıldız Technical University

Beyza Topuz (2015-2017)

History Department Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University

Zeynep Eroğlu Uslu (2015-2017)

Topographical Engineer Master Student, Yıldız Technical University

Başak Atan (2014-2015)

City Planning (City and Regional Planning) PhD Student, Mimar Sinan University

Çağlar Karahan (2015-2016)

Restoration (Architecture) Master Student, Fatih Sultan Mehmet University

Burak Yılmaz (2015-2016)

Department of Sociology, Graduate Student, Middle East Technical University

Ahmet Baş (2015-2016)

Urban Planning Department PhD Student, Istanbul Technical University
Ahmet Tekin (2015-2016)

History Department Master Student, Istanbul Sehir University
Ayşe Kavak (2015-2016)

History Department PhD Student, Marmara University
Burak Yılmaz (2015-2016)

Sociology Department Master Student, İstanbul Sehir University
Emine Öztaner (2015-2020)

History Department PhD Student, Istanbul Sehir University
Murat Tülek (2015-2016)

Urban Planning Department PhD Student, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University
Yusuf Yüksek (2015-2016)

History Department Master Student, Bogazici University

Interns

Şevval Elif Karalar (2019)

Sociology Department, Istanbul Sehir University

Maryam Ekhtiari (2019)

Sociology Department, Istanbul Sehir University

Kübranur Yılmaz (2019)

Urban Studies, Istanbul Sehir University

Hatice Bozkurt (2019)

Urban Studies, Istanbul Sehir University

Esma Vural (2019)

Urban Studies, Istanbul Sehir University

Zehra Aydın (2018)

Sociology Department, Istanbul Sehir University

Elif Can (2018)