Workshop
Join us for our upcoming physical workshop focused on innovative technologies shaping the future of university campuses in the face of climate challenges! Explore cutting-edge solutions and engage with experts in the field. Discussions and activities will revolve around achieving a circular, resilient, community-driven, and smart campus environment. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation and contribute to a brighter, greener future. Stay tuned for dates and registration details!
in[n]urban
Future Campus with Climate Challenges: University Campus Life_ITU 2070
This in-person workshop is part of the “Innovative Digital Approaches for Sustainable Urban Futures- in[n]urban” EELISA project, which investigates how innovative technologies can help address climate related urban challenges. As the pressures related to climate change continue to intensify, universities and campuses face these challenges for sustainability and social resilience. The workshop consists of two-day in-person activities in Istanbul. This workshop is followed by an online studio. The participants are expected to attend both in-person workshop and online collaborative studios. The Istanbul workshop will bring students and researchers together to envision ITU Ayazağa Campus in 2070 as a dynamic environment where AI, BIM, and Digital Twins intersect with nature-based solutions and community-driven initiatives. The workshop will focus not only on proposing solutions but also on exploring diverse lifestyles and their impact on climate, while defining both utopian and dystopian future scenarios. By addressing “Future Campus with Climate Challenges,” participants will engage in identifying key challenges, envisioning alternative futures, and developing campus-scale strategies that can be adapted to broader urban contexts. By integrating future-thinking with current-state analysis, tangible ideas, and AI-driven scenario building, we will identify key challenges, envision alternative futures, and develop campus-scale strategies that foster a more inclusive, supportive, and socially resilient environment both now and in the decades ahead.
Context
Participants will engage in hands-on scenario-building, group discussions, and collaborative design sessions to address the following questions:
# How can AI, digital twin, and BIM be used for climate change resilience at ITU Ayazağa Campus?
# How do we use LLMs to identify problems and reach solutions?
#How can we { as a citizen, designer, engineer, etc.} use digital technologies to get insights for future visions?
# How will urban futures change with the developments of AI, digital twins, and BIM technologies?
# How will society adapt and function in generating urban futures by using these technologies?
Workshop Focus/ Themes
The participants will generate narratives linked to the ideals below while imagining also the ways of life and potential future lifestyles on campus through storytelling, scenario-building, and social adaptation to climate challenges. Our discussions and activities will focus on circular, community-driven, resilient and smart campus ideals defined as following:
-Circular Campus Systems focus on how campuses operate with maximum resource efficiency and minimal waste by exploring the closed-loop systems for waste, food, water and material use and consumption.
-Resilient Campus Ecosystems focus on nature-based solutions and disaster preparedness while adapting to climate change. Climate-responsive architecture and planning can be discussed linked to this domain along with biodiversity, green and blue infrastructure notions.
-Community-Driven Futures elaborate campus as an arena for collaboration between university staff, students and surrounding communities by reconsidering co-living, public engagement, shared-knowledge platforms and multi-functional hubs for communal skill set generations. -Smart and Interactive Campuses focus on how AI, data-driven methods and IoT enhance campus livability, functionality and sustainability. While energy and air quality can be drivers for this theme also well-being and human-centered designs can be included in the scope of interactive experiences. In achieving these ideals the students may work on one or more of the following possible themes, or suggest additional themes:
-Net-Zero Energy Campuses: This theme explores the campus system networks regarding energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon neutrality and their relationship with built-environment and nature.
-Healthy and Inclusive Spaces: This theme concentrates on physical and mental health of the inhabitants of the campus by prioritizing inclusivity and accessibility.
-Sustainable Mobility & Transportation: This theme focuses on minimizing environmental impacts, enhancing accessibility, and promoting healthier lifestyles. By prioritizing walking, biking, and efficient public transit systems, universities can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Integrating electric vehicle charging stations, carpool programs, and bike-sharing schemes are some examples of eco-friendly commuting on campus.
-Post-Disaster Campus Design: This theme focuses on the adaptive scenarios of the campus spaces and management systems for post-disaster situations for risks and hazards like earthquake, diseases ,chemical leaks, war, etc. Modular, flexible designs and incorporation strategies along with resource allocation topics are included in this theme.
-Social Resilience and Human-centered Design: Beyond infrastructure, the human dimension of campus life is crucial for social resilience and well-being. This theme explores how physical and social spaces can foster inclusivity, mental health support, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Additionally it investigates policies to ensure equitable access to resources and services.
-Education & Awareness-based Approaches: In this theme, participants address how to incorporate sustainability and climate awareness into research agendas, and everyday campus life. This includes service-learning models, faculty-student collaboration on real-world projects, and campus-wide outreach efforts that promote climate literacy and behavioral change. How these notions will evolve in 2070 will be the main question of this theme.
Participation requirements
Graduate students with strong interest in sustainable urban futures and those who are committed to fully participate in the two-day in-person workshop and the following online collaborative studio. Applicants should fill out the registration form. Please make sure to clearly explain your motivation for attending the workshop and expectations for the workshop. This section will play an important role in the selection process.