Rural Futures | Future Rurals International Symposium in Istanbul

Rural Futures | Future Rurals is an international, interdisciplinary symposium held on 15 and 16 October 2026 at the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture. It is organised by the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Faculty of Architecture with the Alter Rurality project of ARENA, the Architectural Research European Network Association. The programme is in English and registration is required.

The organisers describe the countryside as a new common ground for more and more people and non-human beings, a place to be thought of together with the city rather than seen from it. Starting from the question “What are we looking for?”, the symposium gathers current work on rural geographies, alternative ways of living and design research, and sets out to open new debates rather than look back at finished projects.

It is staged in dialogue with the exhibition Rural and Future: Voices from the Countryside, which presents an ITU design studio run between 2020 and 2024 in eight rural regions of Türkiye. The exhibition, the symposium and a national forum together make up the three-part Rural and Future public programme.

Day one, 15 October

After the welcome at 9:00 and opening remarks, the first panel, Critical Rurals and Futures: Views, Horizons, opens with Michael Woods on the possible futures of rural places, followed by Anne Tietjen, Fabian Leveque and Ewa Chuecos, Sevgi Görmüş Cengiz and Jonathan Mosley, moderated by Sophia Meeres. In the afternoon, Close-Up Rurals: Readings, Researches opens with Hélène Frichot and continues with Tatjana Schneider, Meltem Erdem Kaya, Mo Michelsen and Víctor Muñoz Sanz, moderated by Nadia Casabella.

Day two, 16 October

Rural Praxis: Practices, Perspectives opens with Samir Bantal, with talks by Paola Viganò on the horizontal metropolis, John Lin, Aslıhan Demirtaş, and Fernando García-Dory with Sergio Bravo, moderated by Merve Bedir. The last panel, Imaginative Rurals and Futures: Projections, opens with Esther Peeren and brings together Mark Smout and Laura Allen, Alvaro Mercado, Ben Stringer and Ayşe Şentürer, moderated by Anđelka Bnin-Bninski. The day ends at 17:00 with a forum titled What Are We Looking For?

The organising committee is Ayşe Şentürer, Betül Uyan Şentürk, Erenalp Büyüktopcu, Ezgi Beyen and Yeşim Armağan. The symposium is supported by the ITU Development Foundation, hosted by the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and its participants are supported by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Istanbul.