CEEE organized the Zero Istanbul Workshop, the very first transdisciplinary event of Özyeğin University in SwissotelIstanbul on 25 May 2010. Lecturers from many different disciplines, including engineers, architects, building contractors, econo mists, bankers, historians, teachers, and “people from the street” discussed the majör problems the “City” has been experiencing. More than 80 prop le attended the workshop which was sponsored by Urban Land Institute Turkey (ULI) and SOYAK Holding. The opening speech of the Workshop was made by Murat Özyeğin and M. Pınar Mengüç. Later, EU Energy Minister Stefan Toastman explai ned the smart city concepts that the EU had just ini tiated. Önder Kaya, the author of the book “Cihan Payitahtı Istanbul and its 2500 Years of History”, displayed the city’s centuriesold stages with many old paintings, photographs and postcards.
After extensive discussions, the workshop partici pants have explored the possible effects of urban change, population growth and climate change in Istanbul.
According to the studies conducted pri or to 2010, it was predicted that Istanbul, whose growth rate is very rapid, would be be one of the largest metropolises that would seriously feel the effects of climate change. Indeed, we are experien cing many of these predicted effects in 2020s, wit hin 10 years after the workshop, is no coinciden ce. At the end of the day, the participants of the workshop expressed their wish for all the efforts in city planning, architecture, engineering and finan ce fronts to protect the spirit of Istanbul in the long term. The Zero Istanbul 2050 Workshop was timely and significant in many ways, and shaped CEEE’s later studies.
Pınar Mengüç and Pınar Özuyar, who organi zed this workshop, later initiated a universitywide course with the code CEEE211 and covered ener gy, environment and economic concerns for ur ban settings. It was as open to all secondyear stu dents at Özyeğin University, and transdisciplinary problems related to climate change faced by both Istanbul and the world were studied. Thanks to the se efforts, CEEE won the 2010 IBM Smarter Planet Award. This award, which was presented to only 24 groups in the World, shows the value of what the CEEE has accomplished in its early days.
You can click on/scan the QR codes for the links of some news and subsequent events that took place in the media about Zero Istanbul.
