Interview with Cyrpus Journal of Construction World

Cyprus Journal of Construction World (Kıbrıs İnşaat Dünyası Dergisi), in its November 2012 issue, published an interview with me with the title of "Architecture Is a Social Product". The full text of this interview in Turkish is accessible from the link below: 

http://www.academia.edu/2338276/Kibris_Insaat_Dunyasi_Dergisi_Roportaj_Interview_with_the_Journal_of_Cyprus_The_World_of_Construction_

The Right to Appropriation

Collaboratively with Senem Zeybekoğlu Sadri, we present a paper entitled: “The Right to Appropriation: Spatial Rights and the Use of  Space” in the International Conference on "Re-appropriation of the City". The proceedings of this conference which was held on 09-11 October 2012 in Tirana was published by  Tiranë : Botime Afrojdit,  (ISBN:978-9928-4053-9-5). The abstract of this paper is below:

ABSTRACT

People use spaces through their diverse dwelling practices; including their various economic, politic, social and cultural activities. These practices take place in all kinds of lived spaces of people, ranging from the most personal space to the ultimate common spaces. However otherizations of different groups of people, exclusions of diverse activities and violations of human rights appear in these spaces too, due to the transformation of the process of formation of spaces into a production process, on the grounds of the domination of state, capital, and institutional knowledge over people and their everyday lives. To prevent these exclusions and guarantee free and equal life for all people in dignity, spatial rights, which include all the principles that should fulfil, respect, protect and promote the rights of every human being in the process of formation, representation and use of spaces should be determined. These principles can be developed on the basis of the idea of the right to the city which was introduced by Henri Lefebvre.

Lefebvre argues that, the right to the city should modify, concretize and make more practical the rights of the citizens as urban dwellers (citadin) and users of multiple services. It would affirm, on the one hand, the right of users to make known their ideas on the space and time of their activities in the urban area; it would also cover the right to the use of the centre, a privileged place, instead of being dispersed and stuck into ghettos (for workers, immigrants, the ‘marginal’, the ‘other’ and even for the ‘privileged’). In other words, the right to the city imagines inhabitants to have two main rights: (1) the right to participate centrally in the production of urban space; and (2) the right to appropriate urban space.

This paper aims to examine bicommunal activites held in Nicosia UN Controlled Buffer Zone as a sample of right to appropriation, and develop the socio-political conditions and requirements which are necessary to have this right fulfilled, so that spaces can embrace diverse dwelling practices of human beings.

KEYWORDS: APPROPRIATION, THE RIGHT TO THE CITY, SPATIAL RIGHTS, DWELLING, BUFFER ZONE, NICOSIA

"Adding Human to Architecture" in the International Symposium on Anthropology of Space and Place

GAU Faculty of Architecture, Design & Fine Arts is organizing an International Interdisciplinary Symposium on "Anthropology of Space and Place". This symposium which worldwide scholars from diverse disciplines of anthropology, urban planning, political science and architecture will present their papers, was held in Millenium Senate Congress Hall  on

Friday 27th of July 2012 from 09-00 to 17:00. My talk in this symposium was on "Adding Human to Architecture". The programme of the symposium is below:

 

10:00	10:15	Welcome
1st Session: Moderator: Hossein Sadri
10:15	11:00	Keynote: Space, Place and Digital Technology	Jakob Rigi
11:00	11:20	Anthropological Space & Spatial Anthropology	Shahin Keynoush
11:20	11:40	Q&A
11:40	12:00	Coffee Break
2nd Session: Moderator: Jakob Rigi
12:00	12:20	The Scale of Public Space	Senem Zeybekoğlu Sadri
12:20	12:40	Spatial Adoption and Urban Transformation	Emine Köseoğlu
12:40	13:00	Q&A
13:00	14:30	Lunch Break
3rd Session: Moderator: Senem Zeybekoğlu Sadri
14:30	14:50	Space is Social, Cultural or Natural?	Ercan Gündoğan
14:50	15:10	Places, Non-places and Other Places	Bahar Aktuna, Gülten Göze
15:10	15:30	Q&A
15:30	16:00	Coffee Break
4th Session: Moderator: Ercan Gündoğan
16:00	16:20	Space as an Intercultural Buffer	Senem Doyduk
16:20	16:40	Adding Human to Architecture	Hossein Sadri

New Article: Mimarlık ve İnsan Hakları (Architecture & Human Rights)

Hossein Sadri, has article published in Mimarlık Journal of Architecture. This article entitled "Architecture and Human Rights", is published in the No: 365, May-June 2012 issue of Mimarlik Journal of Architecture. This journal is published by Chamber of Architects in Turkey and indexed by several international indexes including: Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI), Avery Index, Ulrichs Periodical Directory, Arthistoricum.net (Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Kunstgeschichte).  The article is published in Turkish and full thext of this article is accessable  at the link below: http://www.mo.org.tr/mimarlikdergisi/index.cfm?sayfa=mimarlik&DergiSayi=379&RecID=2952

Invited Talk in Antalya on Human Rights and Architecture

 "Architecture and Human Rights" was the theme of the 2011 World Day of Architecture. We have been invited by Antalya Chamber of Architects to give lectures on architecture and human rights. After a welcome speech of the head of Chamber of Architects, as the first lecture, I talked on "Architecture, Space and Human Rights", then Dr. Zeybekoglu Sadri did her speech on "The City, Urban Transformation and Human Rights".  In addition to professionals' involvement, participation of staff and students of Akdeniz University made the programme and QA and discussion part really excited. You can read more in Turkish from the website of Chamber of Architects:
http://www.antmimod.org.tr/gundem.asp?blm=2&serid=305&page=1

Space & Human Rights

Chamber of Architects of Turkey, Ankara Branch published 25th volume of its academic journal (Dosya) with the topic of Architecture & Politics. The editor of this volume was Assoc. Porf. Dr. Neşe Gurallar from Gazi University. Under this topic I submitted an essay entitled "Space & Human Rights". This article and other essays are available from http://www.mimarlarodasiankara.org/dosya/dosya25.pdf.

GAU Friday Seminars

PROGRAMME:

18 February 2011                   

THE (RE)PRODUCTION OF SOCIAL SPACE

Hossein SADRI (Sen. Lect. Dr.)

The American University  - Girne, CYPRUS

25 February 2011

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND: A PLOT ON THE COMMUNAL IDENTITIES AND CONSERVATION OF CITIES

Murat ÇETİN (Assist. Prof. Dr.)

King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, SAUDI ARABIA.

4 March 2011

THE NET  AND THE CITY

Jakob RIGI (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)

Central European University, Budapest, HUNGARY.

11 March 2011

SYMBOLISM IN CITY PLANNING (A CRITICAL INTERPRETATION)

Üstün ALSAÇ (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

18 March 2011

PENDULATING BETWEEN THE “NEEDY” AND “CITIZEN” DISABLED:

NEGOTIATING DISABILITY RIGHTS IN ISTANBUL

Dikmen BEZMEZ (Assist. Prof. Dr.)

Koç University, Istanbul, TURKEY.

25 March 2011

ARCHITECTURE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Graeme Bristol  (LLM, MASA, B.Arch, BA)
Centre for Architecture & Human Rights

King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, THAILAND.

1 April 2011

MIND THE LOCAL: OPPOSITION TO ISTANBUL’S GLOBALISATION PROJECT

Murat Cemal YALÇINTAN (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)

Erbatur ÇAVUŞOĞLU (Assist. Prof. Dr.)

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, TURKEY

8 April 2011

GLOBALISATION AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN CITIES OF THE SOUTH: AN OVERVIEW

Ramin M.Keivani (Reader, Dr.)
Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.

15 April 2011

ARCHITECTURAL CRITICISMS ON THE MONUMENTS IN KYRENIA REGION

KAŞİF, A., (M. S., Arch)

YÜCEL BESİM, D., (M. Arch, PhD. Asst. Prof. Dr.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

22 April 2011

PUBLIC SPACE & DEMOCRACY

Senem ZEYBEKOĞLU SADRI (Assist. Prof. Dr.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

29 April 2011
Le CORBUSIER IN ALGERIA

Hassina NAFA, (Sen. Lect.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

06 May 2011
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF HOUSING PRODUCTION IN TRNC

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

Nesil BAYTIN, (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

20 May 2011
POLITICS IN (PRE)CONSTURCTION

Balkız ÖZTEMİR, (Asst. Prof. Dr.)

The American University - Girne, CYPRUS.

The Trafficking of Women and Women's Human Rights in the City

I was invited to had a speech on Human Trafficking and the city in the "Human Trafficking in the context of Human Rights" panel. This panel was organized by Gaziosmanpaşa Soroptimist Club and Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held on wednesday 15th December 2010 in Gazi University Faculty of Architecture. The title of my speech was "The Trafficking of Women and Women's Human Rights in the City" and I tried to underline the problems of gendered spaces and genedered cities in my presentation. Other invited speakers of this panel were Ahenk Dereli (MFA) , Prof. Dr. Ayşe Ayata (METU) and Meltem Ersoy (IOM). The moderator of this panel was Prof. Dr. Nur Çağlar from Gazi University.

WORKSHOP: Human Rights Based Design Studio

SOCIAL FORUM OF ARCHITECTURE 2010 

21-23 Oct. 2010 - Ankara TURKEY


HUMAN RIGHTS BASED DESIGN STUDIO

Sen. Lect. Dr. Hossein Sadri

Assist. Prof. Dr. Senem Zeybekoğlu Sadri

Architectural practice and its harms to human being and environment has become a broadly discussed issue during recent years. Architectural education constitutes the foundation of this practice and is meant to create a deep understanding of and sensitivity for human life and environment. However, most of the time, this understanding and sensitivity remain at the level of following the latest trends and cannot go beyond a hunt for designing spectacular, hi-tech buildings. Consequently, we think that architectural education should be reconsidered and design studios play an important role during this process. 

With this motivation, we have designed a workshop that aims at questioning the formal design studio system in architectural education and bringing up the ethical responsibilities of profession of architecture, through its theoretical background, methodology and results. Within this framework, we are going to realize “Human Rights Based Design Studio” workshop under the Social Forum of Architecture program. Sharing the background, methodology and results of the workshop will give us the chance to discuss alternatives to current approaches in architectural practice and education.

Our Critics to Contents of Design Studio

Today, our cities are changing rapidly through great urban projects that are created and executed by states, municipalities or great investors. According to Henri Lefebvre, state and capital try to homogenize spaces by creating hegemony on spaces, therefore produce absolute spaces which exclude differences and social life and which is focused on consumption.  Architects and planners play a crucial role in these hegemonic processes as designers and representatives of institutional knowledge[1]. These urban projects tend to protect the benefits of state and capital, rather than serving people and society: historical sites become tourist attractions; natural resources of the city are occupied by private investments; luxurious housing areas separate themselves with high security walls from their poorer neighboring communities; formerly public areas become privatized and city space become more fragmented and polarized each day. As a result, vulnerable persons and groups become more excluded from the city life, a condition which is paralleled by the deprivation of these people from their basic human rights as well. In addition, it is not only the vulnerable groups that are affected by these urban processes. Each and every inhabitant of cities gradually loose their right to equitable usufruct of their cities and participate in its design and development.

Awareness of these human rights violations in cities and attempts to prevent them and restore their devastating results as much as possible are the points that we see lacking in architectural education so far. Therefore, we will deal with what should be done and what should not be done by architects and students of architecture during our workshop and discuss duties and responsibilities of profession and education by a human rights based approach to design studio.

Our Critics to Methodology of Design Studio

To be able to raise an awareness of human rights issues in architecture, we think that the methodology should also be reconsidered. By inspiration from Paulo Freire’s “The Pedagogy of Depressed” we tried to apply techniques that render education more egalitarian and libertarian. According to Freire, the formal education system is based on teacher-student and subject-object relations, a system in which one side dominates the other side with the power of knowledge. To eliminate this situation, it is needed to build up a system based on subject-subject relations instead of subject-object and moderator-participant relations instead of teacher-student relations[2]. By this approach, the process of learning goes beyond a one way transformation of information from teacher to student and it becomes a personal experience in which knowledge is discovered by both sides through research, discussions, group studies, simulations, role playing activities, case studies and other creative modules. This kind of education which emphasizes participation in learning breaks the domination of one idea and absolute knowledge and brings sharing and diversity of ideas and experiences. In addition to that, participation turns learning into an enjoyable process, thus keeps motivation of students in a high level. We find this kind of learning crucial in creating a real understanding and sensitivity in architectural education, and generating activism especially in human rights area.

Human Rights Based Design Studio Workshop

Under the light of these discussions, we have developed our workshop in the interdisciplinary area of architecture and human rights. Our workshop is going to be a 3 day activity, aiming at learning human rights and their spatial dimensions; creating awareness of human rights violations and their reasons; preventing these violations and developing ways and methods to restore the consequences of these violations through architecture and design. To be able to reach these aims, we are going to use modules which are based on participatory education methods. Some of these modules are adapted from human rights education books such as Compass[3], Making Rights a Reality[4] and Service Learning[5], and other modules are designed by the workshop organizers. We expect to have 20 students from different disciplines, including but not limited to architecture, urban design and planning areas.

       

---

[1] Lefebvre, H. (1991) “The Production of Space”, translated by Donald Nicholson Smith, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.

[2] Freire, P. (2006) “Ezilenlerin Pedagojisi”, çev: Dilek Hattatoğlu ve Erol Özbek, Ayrıntı Yayınları, İstanbul.

[3] Brander, P. Gomes, R. vd. (2008) “Pusula: Gençlere İnsan Hakları Eğitimi Kılavuzu”, çev: Burcu Yeşiladalı, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul.

[4] Amnesty International (2005) “Making Rights a Reality: Human Rights Education Workshop for Non-Governmental Organizations”, Amnesty International Publications, London.

[5] Belisle, K. ve Sullivan, E. (2007) “Service Learning: Lesson Plans and Projects”, Amnesty International USA, New York.

Panel - Call for Papers: Urban Transformation & Human Rights in the City

International Conference on

Mega-Urbanisation and Human Rights:

Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

Commission on Urban Anthropology and Commission on Human Rights, International Union of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences; in collaboration with West Bengal StateUniversity

CALL FOR PAPERS

Session Convenors:   

Senem ZEYBEKOĞLU SADRI (Assist. Prof. Dr. The American University – Girne CYPRUS)

Hossein SADRI (Sen. Lect. Dr. The American University – Girne CYPRUS)

Title of Session:

URBAN TRANSFORMATION & HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE CITY

Within the last thirty years, world cities have been confronting massive transformations under the impacts of neo-liberal economy policies. There is a strong competition between cities to attract global capital, which leads to urban restructuring of cities around the world. This competition is manifested in urban transformation programmes, which require privatization of vast urban areas and construction of glamorous projects for business, tourism, consumption and luxury living. Catering an upscale portion of the society, these urban transformations generally tend to ignore poorer populations within the city and result in evictions, devastation of natural resources, loss of jobs, social security, education opportunities and last but not least, loss of social networks of people. The more urban areas are subject to the demands of trans-national flows of capital, investment and people, the more they become places of inequality and polarization.  

Growing conditions of inequality are paralleled by violations of human rights in the city. As people are forced to leave their homes due to urban transformation and development programs, their basic rights including right to housing, employment, education, healthy environment, recreation, privacy of family life, participation in political processes, etc. are being violated. These rights are basic human rights, which are clearly defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and states are responsible for protection and fulfilment of these rights.

With these concerns in mind, this session aims to discuss the relationship between urban transformation programs and human rights in the city through raising several questions:

·  Urban transformation programs, how do they impact the lives of inhabitants of cities?

·  What are the sources of inequality, exclusion and human rights violations in cities?

·  What are the human rights issues in cities, how can they be achieved?

·  What are the changing roles of local governments, what are their duties and responsibilities?

·  What is the condition of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in cities (minorities, people living in poor conditions, people with disabilities, immigrants, women, children and elderly people, etc.). Are there ways to empower these groups?

Deadline for Abstract Submission: 31th of October 2010

Please send your abstracts to senemzeybek@yahoo.com and hosadri@yahoo.com