INTERNATIONAL URBAN DESIGN CONFERENCE | Honorary Speaker : Derya Oktay

Honorary Speaker : Derya Oktay

PhD, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, Founding Director of EMU Urban Research and Development Center (URDC), Maltepe University, Turkey

Derya Oktay (BArch, Gazi Univ.; MSc, Middle East Technical Univ.; Pg. Dip. in Urban Design, Oxford Brookes Univ.; PhD, Yildiz Technical Univ. & Oxford Brookes Univ.) is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Maltepe University. She was the founding Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Ondokuz Mayıs University and the Chair of the Department of Architecture; was a Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean University, N. Cyprus, the Founding Director of the MS in Urban Design Programme, and the Founding Director of the Urban Research & Development Center (URDC) at the same institution. In addition, she has served as the President of the Society for International Development (SID) Lefkosa (Nicosia) Chapter in Cyprus. Her areas of research are sustainable urbanism and architecture, cultural-spatial aspects of cities and housing environments, urban identity, public spaces, quality of urban life, beside her main field of expertise 'urban design'. Oktay has developed and offered various courses focusing on architectural design in urban context, urban design theory and principles, sustainable developments, public spaces, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She was a Visiting Professor/Researcher in such universities as University of California-Berkeley, Politecnico di Milano, University of Michigan, Oxford Brookes University, and Pratt Institute - New York. 

She was a Jury Member at the 13th Biennale of Architecture - Venice Biennale 2012 - at "Recycling Common Ground" Workshop&Competition, and team member in various national and international urban/architectural design competition projects. She has experience in both qualitative and empirical research funded by the EU, USAID, TUBITAK, and EMU. She has authored more than 150 publications including books, chapters in refereed books, refereed journal articles of the highest categories, conference papers and popular press articles. Professor Oktay has spoken at various national and international platforms as an invited or keynote speaker, and has been serving on the editorial board of various refereed journals, and the champion Editor of the themed issues of Urban Design and Planning on “Quality of Life in Cities" (2012) and “Urban Identity in the Era of Globalisation" (Part One, 2016; Part Two, 2017). She has served on the Executive Board of Deans of Schools of Architecture (MİDEKON) May 2005 - Sept. 2020. Oktay has recently been nominated and selected to serve on the International Jury for the “UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education".

For more information click here.