Student Competition*

MULTI-ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ISTANBUL AS A PALIMPSEST CITY IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: Future Imaginaries, and Emerging Narratives

This competition invites students to propose  bold and experimental ideas that challenge dominant urban narratives while foregrounding multiple ecologies, speculative futures, and alternative modes of storytelling. How might Istanbul be reimagined if it is read not as a fixed or completed city, but as an Anthropocene palimpsest—a  terrain shaped by erasures, residues, ruptures, and emergent possibilities?

Participants are encouraged to work with radical imaginaries, hybrid representations, and critical design strategies that question how cities are inhabited, remembered, and transformed under conditions of ecological uncertainty.

Submissions may take the form of spatial proposals, visual narratives, speculative scenarios, or experimental mappings that open up new ways of thinking about Istanbul’s possible futures.

Competition Participation Conditions

• The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying in departments such as Architecture, Interior Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture, Industrial Design, Communication Design, Graphic Design, and related fields.
• Teams may collaborate with students from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, fine arts, cinema and television, photography, or work with an academic advisor.
• The formation of interdisciplinary teams is strongly encouraged.
• Applicants interested in participating in the competition are required to complete the online application form by 15 July 2026: https://forms.gle/zLYUMeKA8ZHyDRTW9 

JURY MEMBERS*

Nagehan Açimuz İşbakan; Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design

Gül Çanakçıoğlu; Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design

Aslıhan Demirtaş; KHORA Architecture, Design & Research Studio

Boğaçhan Dündaralp; DDRLP architecture and design services

Güliz Özorhon; Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design

Hıfsiye Pulhan; Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Architecture

Hülya Turgut; Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design

* In alphabetical order

Rapporteurs

Eda Kış, Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design (nur.kis@ozu.edu.tr)

Hülya Yavaş, Özyeğin University, Faculty of Architecture and Design (hulya.yavas@ozyegin.edu.tr)