A new chapter for the Urban-CoLLaR project began last week at the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design. For the kick-off meeting, IAED team led by Asst. Prof. Nuri Cihan Kayaçetin hosted researchers from partner institutions across six countries at the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture on March 19–20.
Held for the first time in person, the event started with a brief introduction of the ongoing tasks to a select audience. The inaugural co-creation workshop followed, which focused on the challenges and indicators of urban circularity. The workshop was a crucial step toward “co-creating urban living labs (ULL) for circular regenerative neighbourhoods” —the essence and title of the project. Dean Prof. Yasemin Afacan and several faculty members including Assoc. Prof. Emel Özdora and Assoc. Prof. Bülent Batuman, and graduate students also joined the discussions.
As the project explores ULLs, the consortium also had their first case study visit to Bademlidere Park, located near the national partner, Çankaya Municipality. The municipality gave a warm welcome, and there was a detailed discussion about the barriers and opportunities on resource efficiency and how municipalities can be supported.
The project allows for the continued support of partner municipalities with ULLs in Muğla Metropolitan Municipality and Çankaya Municipality, StadBrugge and Comune Di Rho by providing objective, science-based feedback to enhance local authorities’ decision making on urban circularity and resource efficiency in Türkiye, the EU and beyond.