Call for Applications
NextGen Urban Professionals Workshop
1. Program Background
The NextGen Urban Professionals (NextGen UP) Workshop is a premier joint capacity-building initiative co-organized by the International Urban Professionals Forum (IUPF), the Istanbul Planning Agency (İPA), and the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg (FH-Salzburg). Grounded in a rich international tradition of youth planning studios, this intensive program brings together emerging thinkers from diverse cultural backgrounds to tackle real-world urban complexities.
The workshop provides a collaborative, high-energy environment for peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, bridging the gap between top-down academic theory and the practical realities of community-led urban design.
2. Workshop Context & Theme: "Metropolitan Repair Lab - Bridging Hardware and Software"
This 5-day collaborative lab acts as a direct bridge between the macro-thematic frameworks of the main Forum and Istanbul’s concrete urban fabric. Moving away from purely theoretical exercises, the workshop is structured as an active Metropolitan Repair Lab. The focus will center on identifying existing spatial infrastructure, large-scale housing frameworks, and underutilized public assets within Istanbul that present critical regeneration opportunities for community engagement.
Participants will explore how the "hardware" of the built environment (buildings, physical infrastructure, mobility corridors, and public spaces) can be retrofitted, adapted, and sustained through the innovative "software" of the city (local knowledge, care networks, circular economies, and participatory governance).
Workshop Scope: Bridging Hardware and Software
The Challenge: From Mass Infrastructure to Human-Scale Commons
Many modern metropolises feature extensive, rapidly constructed physical infrastructures and housing sectors that require a secondary layer of social and spatial refinement. NextGen UP will focus on designated municipal sites in Istanbul to answer a core question: How can existing large-scale urban infrastructure be retrofitted to foster a deeper sense of neighborhood belonging, spatial justice, and local economic resilience?
Key themes include:
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Adaptive Reuse & Micro-Implementation: Low-cost, high-impact tactical interventions to optimize existing public space. Participants will design flexible public spaces, micro-economies, and shared facilities that deliver adaptive, living urban environments.
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Circularity & Collective Care: Establishing community-led networks for resource sharing, local production, and environmental resilience. Moving past linear consumption patterns, teams will integrate circular economy principles into the architectural fabric of local neighborhoods. This includes proposing localized systems for waste-to-resource management, decentralized energy sharing, urban agriculture, and the closed-loop optimization of existing structural materials.
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Inclusive Governance: Designing mechanisms that give residents a direct voice in managing and sustaining their immediate neighborhood infrastructure.
- The Right to Repair (My City, My Neighbourhood, My Estranged Feeling of Community): By introducing the concept of the "Right to Repair," we empower citizens to visually, spatially, and socially reclaim their immediate surroundings. Participants will design tactical urbanism Toolkits that allow residents to literally "repair" broken social connections, modify public spaces, and co-create an authentic sense of ownership over their neighborhoods.
3. Eligibility Criteria
We welcome applications from passionate, forward-thinking candidates worldwide who meet the following profiles:
- Ideal Candidates: International and local higher-year students (ideally in postgraduate/Master's programs) or early-career young professionals.
- Disciplines: Eligible profiles include urban planners, architects, sociologists, geographers, service designers, and community organizers.
- Age & Demographics: Under 35 years old, with strong encouragement for applicants hailing from emerging economies.
- Note: If you do not strictly meet these demographic preferences but possess strong motivation, you are still highly encouraged to apply.
- Language: The official language of the workshop is English.
4. Required Deliverables & Methodology
The program operates in two phases: a virtual preparatory phase and a 5-day on-site studio in Istanbul.
- Preparation: Selected peers will participate in an introductory videoconference in late September to review site data, maps, and brief materials provided by the hosts.
- On-Site Collaboration: Participants will be divided into multidisciplinary, international working groups. Each group will diagnose site challenges and collaborate on an integrated urban strategy.
- General Outputs: Every team must produce and deliver:
(1) A formal Group Presentation pitched live to city stakeholders, international experts, and local partners on the final day.
(2) A comprehensive Group Poster (A1 size) to be exhibited prominently throughout the main ECF event. - The final proposal packages must deliver:
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Spatial Diagnosis: An analysis of the existing infrastructure's current limitations and its latent community opportunities.
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Spatial & Infrastructural Proposal: Clear physical and architectural interventions designed to optimize the site.
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Civic Co-Design & Governance Model: A blueprint mapping out how local citizens, civil society, and public institutions can jointly manage the space.
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Phased Implementation Pathway: A realistic short-, medium-, and long-term roadmap for municipal execution.
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- Certification: Successful participants who fulfill all workshop requirements will be awarded an official Certificate of Attendance issued by IUPF, IPA, and FH-Salzburg.
5. Mandatory Requirements & Code of Conduct
- Full Attendance: Selected candidates must commit to participating in the entire duration of both the 5-day workshop (2–6 Oct) and the subsequent 3-day Forum (7–9 Oct).
- Code of Conduct: Upon acceptance, participants must sign a professional code of conduct, promising cross-cultural respect, active team contribution, and punctual attendance.
- Logistical Responsibilities: Participants are fully responsible for coordinating and financing their own travel arrangements, transit visas, and comprehensive health/travel insurance. Official letters of invitation will be provided to facilitate streamlined Turkish visa processing.
6. Fees, Accommodation & Financial Framework
- Special Registration Fee: All accepted workshop participants benefit from a heavily subsidized flat rate of €50 per person. This single fee covers the complete 5-day workshop track and grants full access/delegate credentials to the main 3-day Istanbul Forum.
- Subsidized Student Accommodation: Affordable shared rooms (separated by gender, excluding breakfast) are available immediately near the İPA Florya Kampüs at a special rate of €25 per night per person.
- Self-Funded Expenses: Participation is strictly voluntary and unremunerated. Each participant must cover their own expenses for incoming flights, daily meals, and accommodation. Low-cost dining options are accessible on and around the municipal campus.
7. Application Process
To apply, candidates must complete the online application form (below) and after a first evaluation, forward the following required documentation (incomplete files will not be reviewed):
- Fill the form below, including a concise Letter of Motivation (max. 300 words) highlighting your interest in the "bridge between Hardware and Software" challenge.
- An updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) detailing your academic and/or urban planning/design experience (to be requested after submission).
- The Perspective Challenge: In your letter of motivation, dedicate 3–5 sentences to describe a real-world example in your home country where a top-down housing project succeeded or failed to foster local community identity, and what single "software" change you would introduce to improve it.
- Senior Representatives of IPA, IUPF and Salzburg University of Applied Sciences will evaluate the applications and select the team until 14 August.