“For the development of human rights, democracy and quality of life, which are inseparable parts of urban life, trying to understand the development and transformation of settlements in the world, especially in the Anatolian geography, and to examine this in axes such as geography, history, culture, and economy, of which man is a part and constructor. İlhan Tekeli Urban Culture Foundation (İTŞKV), which defines it as "a foundation that strives to struggle", organizes “Research Project Meetings” to share the rich content of research projects carried out in Turkey with the society and contribute to widespread impact. For the second research project meeting, the foundation held the TÜBİTAK 1001 Research Project numbered 117K317, which focuses on the transformation of Beyoğlu in the historical process, in which Gökçe Uzgören, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design of Istanbul Gelişim University (IGU) Fine Arts Faculty (GSF) is also in the project team. he chose.
The outputs of the research project titled "Decisive Factors and Possible Scenarios in the Reconstruction of Historical City Centers: The Case of Istanbul Beyoğlu" were shared at an online meeting held on February 14, 2021, within the scope of ITŞKV Research Project Meetings. The meeting was attended by Prof. Dr. İlhan Tekeli, Prof. Dr. Murat Guvenc, and Prof. Dr. 100 people, including the doyen teachers of the field of urbanism, such as Ayda Eraydın, attended. The project manager, Prof. Dr. After Asuman Türkün's one-hour project presentation, at the meeting where the participants' questions about Beyoğlu were answered with a question-answer session, academicians from many universities contributed to the research project with their different perspectives.
“We have a study that will be discussed in depth, not superficially. I think this is an opportunity for Türkiye…”
Founder and President of the History Foundation, and also the Founder of the Executive Board at the World Academy for Local Government and Democracy. Dr. İlhan Tekeli expressed his thoughts on the project as follows:
“…We have before us a study that will be discussed in depth, not superficially. I think this is an opportunity for Türkiye. We need to seize this opportunity. This project is a great job. That's why we should think about it and discuss it together.
…I think this project is an opportunity to jump into a debate on the scale of Istanbul. Congratulations very much. I was not satisfied with the celebration alone because I took this job very seriously. That's why I tried to have a detailed conversation. This work requires us to work on it too.”
Çankaya University City and Regional Planning Department Inst. Member Dr. Ali Türel shared the following:
“…It was a very comprehensive study, I congratulate the project team. It was a study that comprehensively revealed the change that occurred in Beyoğlu along with several political events that emerged in different periods.”
Middle East Technical University Department of City and Regional Planning Inst. Member Dr. Ayda Eraydın also shared her thoughts on the project:
“Let me start by congratulating the project team. It's a big job. Being able to conduct 1001 surveys and having such a large number of in-depth interviews is a very important job, especially in Beyoğlu. This is indeed a very valuable job in terms of scale. We can also generate new discussions from this study. I think we can put forward some conceptual discussions about how historical city centers in Turkey have evolved and changed.”
