7th international seminar

FOUNDATION, MISSION and VISION

History

The studies at ITU Faculty of Architecture have started in the 1950s with the research on traditional housing architecture and many original works were provided by our dear valued professors. In the 1960s, studies on housing for low incomers carried on and current problems arising from rapid urbanization, emphasized with Housing Panels gained weight, and in the 1970s, intensive studies on housing standards were carried out with the support of TÜBİTAK. The unhealthy developments brought about by rapid urbanization have been the focal point of the studies on housing in our faculty after the 1970s. Rapidly growing industrialization, especially in the big cities, and the related phenomenon of urban migration caught the Turkish economy unprepared; a dramatic housing problem began to be experienced in our country in which new settlement areas could not been provided and new urban environments created. The intensity of the housing problem has necessitated studies on housing. It is of great importance to increase these experiences and to direct the research areas towards specific targets.

The studies carried out within a very wide spectrum from urban to settlement scale, from housing to material and detail scale, from design step to realization stage, from housing culture to housing technologies, from housing sociology to housing economics, have enabled the formation of international level units in Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning Departments of our faculty.

Within the scope of HABITAT II held in Istanbul on June 10-14, 1996, four workshops called "Istanbul Workshops" were organized by the ITU Faculty of Architecture. These workshops are "City Identity", "Istanbul Throughout History", "Housing for Low-Income Groups", and "Shelter for All Versus Sustainable Development" respectively. These workshops were organized by a  group of faculty members and in a meeting attended by internationally important researchers the works at ITU Faculty of Architecture was extensively presented and attracted great interest.

The establishment of the ITU Housing Research and Education Center was envisaged based on the accumulation of knowledge on housing at the ITU Faculty of Architecture, which has been built up over the years through projects supported by national and international organizations. The center, established in 1998 under the name of ITU TÜBİTAK/İÇTAG Housing Research Unit by TÜBİTAK Construction and Environmental Technologies Research Group, has been carrying out its activities within the central structure of our university since November 2002 in accordance with the ITU Housing Research and Education Center regulation. The infrastructure of the Center has matured especially with the establishment of the MED-CAMPUS HOUSING NETWORK supported by the European Union in 1995, and the necessary computer infrastructure, library, research spaces, and training spaces for such a center have been physically formed. On January 17, 2011, the Center was transformed into Housing Research and Education Center (KONUT UYG-AR). The Center has been an institutional member of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR) since 2004.

Mission

To conduct national and international education and interdisciplinary research on planning, design, and implementation in housing, settlement, urban and environmental issues.

Vision

To be a leading center in Turkey and around the world, where national and international education, interdisciplinary research, consultancy, and publication activities are carried out.

Objectives

To be a pioneering center that carries out contemporary and universal activities

To found housing research on public and private sector activities

To cooperate with similar international institutions

To develop research areas related to society-urban-housing with an interdisciplinary approach and to conduct new research

Aim

The Center aims to conduct scientific research, education, and practice in the fields of activity.

In our center are aimed,

  • Providing on a national scale the widespread use of the accumulation of knowledge in our unive”rsities, developing and transferring this accumulation of knowledge to the field of application in interaction with the public and private sectors
  • Establishing a housing database and making it accessible online
  • Conducting applied research in a multi-disciplinary working environment, coordinating these disciplines by ensuring that the housing problem is addressed in an interdisciplinary approach rather than in a limited field
  • Developing an international exchange of information and establishing an international research center in a country like Turkey, experiencing the housing problem in all its aspects
  • Organizing short courses and seminars transmitting research results to housing professionals in the public and private sectors
  • Organizing international scientific meetings
  • Publishing research results
  • Bringing concrete proposals on the country's housing problem