Student Utopia Workshop Successfully Held

In the first session of the day-long workshop program, Dr. Emrah Tüncer met with the students. This was followed by Dr. Ferihan Hafızoğlu, Director of Health Affairs, who delivered a presentation titled “Prosperous City: In the Footsteps of Hygieia and Panacea,” focusing on the relationship between the city, health, and well-being. In the final session of the morning program, Dr. Yonca Güneş Yücel Atalay invited students to reflect on the concepts of hope and utopia through her workshop titled “Hope and Utopia as a Practice of Thinking: How Do We Imagine the ‘Not Yet’?”

In the afternoon sessions, Assoc. Prof. Başak Özarslan offered reflections on urban justice and local life practices in her presentation titled “Is a Just City Possible? Thinking from Avcılar.” In the final session of the day, Assoc. Prof. İlke Ciritçi addressed the historical and conceptual dimensions of utopian thought through her presentation titled “Utopia: The Imaginary Architecture of the Eighteenth Century.”

Throughout the event, students engaged with rich content on creative thinking, critical reflection, and conceptual framework-building in preparation for the competition to be held on 15 May 2026. Shaped by contributions from different fields, the workshop program contributed to students’ efforts to imagine fairer, more inclusive, and more livable urban futures.