Prof. OLGU ÇALIŞKAN

Having earned his doctoral degree in urbanism at TU Delft, the Netherlands, in 2013, he has lectured and instructed at METU Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, as a professor of urban design and morphology. His publications include the guest editorial for the journal of Built Environment (2011, 2022) and several articles, including those in the Journal of Urban Design (2010, 2022), Journal of Architectural and Planning Research (2011), Urban Design International (2012, 2020, 2025), Urban Morphology (2017), Habitat International (2023), Cities (2024) and Urban Studies (2026) His primary research interests encompass physical planning and design, urban morphology, urban design theory and methodology, parametric urban design, and industrial urbanism. As the coordinator of the Master of Urban Design, he instructs the MUD studio at METU. He also teaches courses, including ‘Creative Thinking for Planners,’ ‘Parametric Urban Design,’ and ‘Collective Housing Planning and Design’. In the body of TEPAV (The Economic Research Foundation of Turkey), he consulted on the strategic vision project for the Gaza urban strip, which was proposed to both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities in January 2016. Within the team of the Policy Analytics Lab (PAL), he authored the Urban Design Master Plan of ‘Ankara Technology Base’ for the Ankara Chamber of Industry in 2024. In the spring of 2025, he served as a visiting professor at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning in the USA. Since his return to Turkey in 2014, he has been a jury member in a series of national and international design competitions. Within various design teams, he has led award-winning projects in recent national and international competitions, including Konyaaltı Waterfront, Antalya (2015), Taksim Square, İstanbul (2020), and Samsun Metropolitan Municipality Service Building, Cultural Center, Mosque, Urban Design and Architectural Project Competition (2026).