03 February 2026 Tuesday
Research Assistant Merve Karadaban Özen presented her doctoral research at the Centre Jean Pépin Laboratory Day in Paris, supported by the TÜBİTAK 221
Research Assistant Merve Karadaban Özen from the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Faculty of Fine Arts at Istanbul Gelişim University, presented her doctoral research on urban shrinkage and neoliberal transformation in Karabük. The presentation took place during the Laboratory Day organized by the Centre Jean Pépin in Paris on September 30, 2025, where she is currently a visiting researcher under the TÜBİTAK 2214-A International Doctoral Research Fellowship program.
Merve Karadaban Özen, a Research Assistant in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Istanbul Gelişim University, Faculty of Fine Arts, participated in the "Journée du Centre Jean Pépin / Laboratory Day" event held at PSL – École normale supérieure (ENS) / Centre Jean Pépin. She is currently a visiting researcher there, supported by the TÜBİTAK 2214-A International Doctoral Research Fellowship.
The event took place on September 30, 2025, at the ENS rue d’Ulm campus in Paris. Following morning sessions where the center’s research teams introduced their work, a special afternoon session was dedicated to doctoral students. During this session, Karadaban-Özen delivered a presentation on her doctoral research focusing on the city of Karabük, Türkiye.
Karadaban-Özen’s doctoral thesis, in its broader scope, examines the processes of "coping with urban shrinkage" through a comparative and socio-spatial framework using the cases of Karabük (Türkiye) and Thionville (France). Her presentation at the Laboratory Day specifically discussed Karabük’s transformation: from a single-industry city founded by the state in 1937 to a city experiencing urban shrinkage within the framework of post-1990s privatization, neoliberal restructuring, and the changing role of the state.
Karadaban-Özen emphasized that her presentation allowed the Karabük case to be brought into the context of the Global South, facilitating a dialogue with international discussions in a field where urban shrinkage literature is predominantly focused on the Global North. Supported by the TÜBİTAK 2214-A grant, her tenure as a visiting researcher contributes to the academic refinement of this comparative framework between Karabük and Thionville in Paris.
Karadaban-Özen expressed her gratitude to her supervisor, Prof. Dr. Emmanuèle C. Cunningham-Sabot, for her guidance and support throughout the research process, as well as to the Centre Jean Pépin team and the TÜBİTAK 2214-A International Doctoral Research Fellowship for making this research visit possible.
