Gökçeada Design Forum for Social Development

Since 2014 OzU/IID has been conducting a comprehensive social design initiative in Turkey. The Gokceada Design Workshops take place every summer in Gokceada, an island with different communities in the North Aegean Sea. The workshops aim to utilize design as a creative and innovative tool in order to address local social and economic problems in the island. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the island’s sustainable social development process. Through community involvement, participants propose new products and services based on Gökçeada’s cultural and natural resources. Students, scholars and designers from all around the world have participated in this annual event since 2014. 

Following our experience in the Gokceada Design Workshops on social development in the biggest and demographically diverse island in Turkey, we are now excited to organize the first edition of the Gokceada Design Forum for Social Development focusing on different examples of territorial design projects from Turkey, and the world. The organizing committee of the forum invites all designers, researchers, scholars and practitioners to share their experiences in territorial design and/or the use of design for social development at rural or urban scale. 

Keynote Speaker: 
Terry IRWIN, Professor / Head of School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
Second keynote speaker to be announced soon!

How to participate:

  • Proposals for a 20 minutes’ presentation should be approx. 300 words in length, and should be supported with project links and/or other documenting materials.
  • Proposals should be sent to [email protected].
  • Deadline for the submission of proposals: May 25, 2018.
  • Acceptance announcement: May 30, 2018.
  • All the papers based on the forum presentations will be published after the event in an edited book.
  • The official language of the forum is English. There is no participation fee.

Organizing Committee:
Metin Çavuş, Asst. Prof., Dept. of Communication Design, OzU
Alpay Er, Prof., Dept. of Industrial Design, OzU
Alayça Erözçelik, Inst., Dept. of Industrial Design, OzU
Orhan Hacıhasanoğlu, Prof., Dept. of Architecture, OzU

GDF-SD Secretariat :
Pelin Günay, Res. Asst., Dept. of Industrial Design, OzU
Burak Taşdizen, Res. Asst., Dept. of Industrial Design, OzU
İlke Çakmakoğlu, PhD candidate, İID, OzU

40-min documentary of the 2015 edition of Gokceada/Imroz Design Workshops (with English subtitles) would give you an idea about the work of OzU / İID in the island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf9CYfsszBA 

The Venue, the island of Gokceada / Imroz
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/turkey/gokceada
http://www.gokceada.com/english/index.html

Ozyegin University (OzU): https://www.ozyegin.edu.tr/en

Istanbul Institute of Design (İID): https://www.ozu-iid.com/