Istanbul as a Living Laboratory: Urban Analysis & Architectural Mapping, 6 ECTS (Blended Online Mobility Erasmus+)

About

Istanbul is not merely a city but a multilayered urban archive shaped by centuries of cultural, spatial, and social transformation. Its streets, buildings, and public spaces function as an open textbook where architectural ideas, urban patterns, and everyday life intersect.

This intensive summer course treats Istanbul as a living laboratory, introducing students to urban analysis and architectural mapping as essential tools for reading and interpreting complex urban environments. Through lectures, guided urban walks, site-based observations, and diagrammatic studies, participants will explore how architectural form, movement, public space, and social activity interact within the city.

The course emphasizes learning through direct experience. Rather than studying the city from a distance, students will analyze real urban sites, translate spatial data into analytical drawings and mappings, and construct architectural narratives that reveal the hidden structures of urban life

Course leader

Assist. Prof. Dr. Saba Matin

Target group

Architecture, Interior Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture, and City & Regional Planning students

Course aim

Upon successfully completing the course, the students will be able to;

Explain fundamental concepts and theoretical frameworks of urban analysis and architectural mapping
Analyze urban form, spatial organization, and public space through architectural criteria
Interpret relationships between built form, movement, and social behavior in urban environments
Apply site-based observation and field study methods to real urban contexts
Produce analytical drawings, diagrams, and mappings to represent urban data
Develop architectural narratives based on spatial, cultural, and morphological analysis
Communicate urban and architectural analyses effectively through visual, verbal, and written presentations

Fee info

What is included? 50-hour Course + Online component with ECTS Credits Course Materials 14 Nights of Accommodation on a Bed-and-Breakfast Basis Airport Transfers (within the mentioned time range) 2 Full-day Sightseeing Tours (Bosphorus Boat & Historical Peninsula Tours) Free Museum Entrances Certificate of Participation and Transcript of Records Delightful Program Amenities (Bag, T-shirt, and Notebook)