Yaklaş_Nişantepe Collective Project

Yaklaş_Nişantepe Collective Project yaklaş (roughly translates as closer) was designed to bring members of Özyeğin University together and go beyond classic approaches to complex issues. In the second year of yaklaş, this time, we are approaching to the Nişantepe District which have been a second home to us. Developed under the umbrella of the Sustainability Platform, yaklaş_Nişantepe will take us on a curious expedition over the course of the next 2 months, through a series of talks, walks, panel discussions, and workshops with the attendance of numerous academicians and students from different disciplines.

Talks: October 1 and 8
Walks: October 14 and 18
Panel Discussions: December 10
Workshops:  December 11 

We stroll through the streets, we see the same horses, but how well do we know the neighborhood that, now, we are a part of? We would like to collectively talk the thresholds that we are on the verge of.

Within the scope of the yaklaş_Nişantepe project, we will discuss our urban commons on the thresholds-borders axis with a focus on food, ethics, sociology, justice, decent work, education, and similar other topics. Once we start reading our urban commons on the axis of thresholds-borders, we do hope that the potential of encounters and connections will become more visible.

We aspire that the experience* of collective thinking and production which will take place in November and October will contribute to both OzU’s transdisciplinary thinking culture and collective urban living culture.

First Talk - October 1

The first leg of these events, the talk “The Distant Near: Nişantepe”, will take place on October 1 with the attendance of Mr. Mümtaz Özdem, Muhtarship Affairs Manager at Çekmeköy Municipality, and Mr. Yakup Baydar, Muhtar of Nişantepe District.

Second Talk - October 8

The second talk of the events, “Spatial Justice”, will take place on Tuesday, October 8, with the attendance of Mr. Yaşar Adnan Adanalı and Mr. Sinan Erensü, the founding members of the Center for Spatial Justice.

Walks - October 14 -18

We will stroll through the streets of the Nişantepe District to get to know and understand the neighborhood which we are a part of, as well as shape our collective memory.

Photographs, writings, drawings, notes, suggestions, and any other posts you will share on our public bulletin board will shape and reveal our collective memory, while the workshops in November will open doors to transdisciplinary studies on the Nişantepe District, which will become all the more familiar to us with every step we will take during our walks.

Please click here for the application form.

Panel Discussions and Workshops

Details will be posted on the website soon.

For more information and questions: yaklaş.org

*This collective experience has two important constituents named separately: Public Bulletin Board (Açık Pano) and

Public House  (Açıkhane) Public Bulletin Board (Açık Pano): The public bulletin board of the Approach Nişantepe project which is open to everyone.

Public House (Açıkhane): The venue where the accumulation of this experience will be visible - Next to the Özyeğin University main dining hall