Architecture(s) & Urban Studies

Istanbul: July 6-8, 2026–

Heritage(s) 2026: Cultural Pasts – Urban Futures–

Conference: July 6-8, 2026 | Abstracts: July 30, 2025

The Architecture(s) & Urban Studies strand of the 2026 Istanbul Heritage(s) conference ‘Cultural Pasts – Urban Futures’ is intended to highlight work being done in built environment and spatial design disciplines as it relates to questions of heritage and culture.

Understanding the built environment in this context is complex. It is diverse and crosses disciplines and times. It requires social awareness and historical knowledge. It can be filtered through objects, buildings, artworks and places. It can be also be viewed as ‘intangible’. In examining these questions from the host city of Istanbul, this conference is located in a place that typifies the questions at play. Historically seen as the meeting point of Europe and Asia, Istanbul was an imperial capital for the Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman Empires. One of the most visited cities in the world, it was European Capital of Culture in 2010. With the centre of the city classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right, it boasts iconic examples of both art and architecture.

Disciplines involved include, but are not limited to:

Architecture, Urban design, Regional planning, Interior design, Landscape architecture, Environmental design, and more.

Full details:

Critical Heritages

Interdisciplinary:

The conference forms part of the AMPS Critical Heritages initiative that straddles two of its research programs: The Mediated City and Critical Futures. Under the remit of the Mediated City, AMPS explores how technologies and medias inform the built environment – as both sites of exploration and documentation. Under the remit of Critical Futures, we critique questions of cultures, communities and a range of social issues, people and place. Examples include gentrification, social inclusion in sites of heritage and sustainable development, of both heritage and non-heritage sites globally.

In bringing together strands of thinking in these areas under the Critical Heritages Initiative, we seek to function as a site for exploration, knowledge exchange and the generation of new insights into questions of heritage from an interdisciplinary perspective. Examples of disciplines that have participated include:

Publications

Research + Publication Program

The Critical Heritages program draws upon the AMPS publication network based on the journal and book series with several international publishing houses:

In addition, the work of researchers is shared through the AMPS Academic YouTube channel, its series of international conferences and its associated proceedings publications.

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Sample Books

The Space of Image: Architectural Experience through Media. (eds) Gul Kacmaz Erk, Nic Theo, June Jordaan. Intellect Books, 2025
Narrating the City: Mediated Representations of Architecture, Urban Form and Social Life. (ed) Ayşegül Akçay Kavakoğlu. Intellect Books, 2023
Urban Histories in Practice: Morphologies and Memory. (eds) Jeffrey Kruth & Steven Rugare. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022
Participatory Practice in Space, Place, and Service Design: Questions of Access, Engagement and Creative Experience. (ed) Kelly L. Anderson. Vernon Press, 2022
Place-Based Sustainability: Research and Design Extending Pathways for Ecological Stewardship. (ed) Jason Montgomery. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022
The Complex City: Social and Built Approaches and Methods. (ed) Caroline Donnellan. Vernon Press, 2021
Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. (eds) Jon Bean, Susannah Dickinson, Aletheia Ida. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020
Designing for Health & Wellbeing: Home, City, Society. (eds) Matthew Jones, Louis Rice, Fidel Meraz. Vernon Press, 2019
From Conflict to Inclusion in Housing. (eds) Graham Cairns, Georgios Artopoulos, Kirsten Day. UCL Press, 2017
Housing the Future – Alternative Approaches for Tomorrow. (eds) Rachel Isaac-Menard and Graham Potts. Libri Publishing, 2016
Design for a Complex World: Challenges in Practice and Education. (ed) Graham Cairns. Libri Publishing, 2015

Sample Journal Special Issues

Histories of Health. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 24 Nos.1-4. 2023
Art, Space and Activism. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 20 Nos.1-4. 2021
Decolonising the Curriculum. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 21 Nos.1-4. 2022
Art, Image & Place. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 20 Nos.1-4. 2021
Re-Design Teaching Design. Architecture_MPS ISSN 2050-9006. Vol 18 Nos.1-4. 2020.

Sample Conferences

Urban Futures – Cultural Pasts. Barcelona. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. 15-17 July, 2024
Local Culture – Global Spaces. Virtual. University of Melbourne, Louisiana State University, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 05-07 Dec, 2023
Heritages – Prague. Czech Republic. Czech Technical University. 28-30 June, 2023
Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures. Virtual. Queen’s University Belfast | Cape Peninsula University of Technology | National University of Singapore, 1-3 Dec. 2022
Intangible Heritages. University of Kent. Canterbury. 15-17 June, 2022
Connections: Heritage, Architecture, Cities. University of Kent. Canterbury. 28-30 June, 2020
Tangible-Intangible Heritage(s). University of East London. 13-15 June, 2018

Books | Journal | Proceedings | YouTube | Conferences

To participate:

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