Architecture and Urban Studies (Thesis) Kadir Has University

Overview

 Architecture and Urban Studies (Thesis) from Kadir Has University seeks to play a leading role in promoting this intertwined, multi-scalar conceptualization of architecture and the city, both in history and in the contemporary world, and invites original graduate level research projects about the design, production and representation of the built environment from critical, interdisciplinary perspectives. Conceived in close collaboration with the Istanbul Studies Center of Kadir Has University, the program intends to offer a productive platform of research and scholarship where architectural and urban studies can enhance each other, sharing new knowledge, research methods, representation techniques and interdisciplinary insights. The graduates of the program are expected to work in the disciplines of architecture, urban design, planning and landscape not just as design professionals in practice, but also in a myriad of different capacities as academics, theoreticians, historians, critics, writers, curators and project consultants among others.

Outcomes

1- To be able to understand the interactions between disciplines related to architectural and urban studies, and to use the acquired knowledge and analytical abilities in conducting interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary research

2- To be able to comprehend contemporary theoretical debates in architectural and urban studies, and critically assess historical and/or contemporary research and practice with reference to these debates

3- To learn and be able to use contemporary research methods in architectural and urban studies

4- To be able to communicate ideas, observations and analyses relating to the built environment, urban phenomena, spatial practices and interventions orally and in writing, using the appropriate architectural, geographical and sociological terminology

5- To learn and be able to use the methods and tools necessary for the visualisation of research outcomes in architectural and urban studies

6- To be equipped with foundational theoretical background necessary to comprehend the mutually constitutive relationships between space and society and to analyse architectural and urban imaginations, constructions and transformations in relation to social phenomena like power, ideology, identity and gender

7- To learn and be able to use methods and tools necessary to analyse spatial production in its multiplicity of scales ranging from the body to the building, and from the city to the geographical region

8- To understand and interpret architectural and urban historiography within its spatial and temporal context

9- To perceive the historicity of the city through everday practices and experiences, within its own actuality

10- To analyze histories of architectural and urban transformations in a comparative way, across different times and/or geographies

11- To be able to define a historical or contemporary architectural, urban or socio-spatial phenomenon/problem and develop a thesis/research proposal with an appropriate and consistent theoretical and methodological framework

12- To be able to direct the learning and research processes and conduct research independently

13- To have the necessary awareness and sensitivity with regard to ethical issues in all phases of research in architectural and urban studies, from the collection of data to the presentation of the outcomes