This conference, co-organized by the Istanbul Research Institute
and Pera Museum, through local and international collaborations, seeks to offer new
insights on the complex layers of Istanbul’s urban landscape. It brings together innovative
studies in the fields of environmental history, political ecology, and critical art studies that
utilize transdisciplinary methods and transcend predetermined scales and clearly delineated
boundaries between the histories and stories of humans, nonhumans, and the built
environment. It puts academics, artists, activists, policymakers, and the public in a dialogue
on Istanbul’s environment, especially in a time when short- and long-term environmental
risks are increasing on an unprecedented scale. Based on the new networks created at the
conference, the organizers aspire to achieve continued collaboration with organizations and
collectives working on Istanbul’s environment, and to raise awareness among Istanbul’s
residents, policymakers, and academics on the city’s historical and current environmental
issues, the agency of nonhuman actors in the making of the city, and the ways in which we
can reorient our thinking on Istanbul toward environmental justice and inclusivity.