Politics of Urban Planning and Participation

The Diyarbakir Institute for Political and Social Research (DİSA) is organizing a panel that aims to investigate the shaping of urban planning and places within the framework of economic-development politics, and to debate through urban dynamics the green economy’s effective facilitation of alternatives to the globalizing economy’s dominance over the city. The panel is open to the public and is organized with the support of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation.

Through the panel and subsequent activities, there are plans to initiate debates on the methodology, scope and function of that which we foresee for observing the city centre, in order to observe and analyze the projections of decisions made upon the city, and to produce policy.

What does democratic negotiation with citizens mean within urban restoration? Who should decide what is destroyed and what is rebuilt? Can one say a cultural fabric has been revived when plastic adornments are made with basalt? How will decisions be made over the nature and fabric of cities, as well as the social characteristics of their residents? How does participation become more than just a token gesture?

For this symposium, in which we will seek the answers to these questions, we ask for your participation as speakers through contributions that fall within the area of Economy and the City: The Structure of the Economy’s Urban Space.

** DİSA and HBSD will meet your transport, food and (if necessary) accommodation costs.

Symposium coordinator: Melike Elik / DİSA  0506 681 38 36

Communications for Istanbul: Yonca Verdioğlu / HBSD  0212 249 15 54   

Time / Place: Saturday 22 October 2016 / Diyarbakir