Ekim Tan is the founder of the Istanbul+NL based city design and research network ‘The Responsive City’ [TReC].

The network focuses on strategic urban development in emerging countries, therefore consists of young and ambitious professionals from Cairo to Istanbul to Amsterdam. Ekim is an experienced researcher and designer in international urban design projects. Her hybrid worldview has been shaped by diverse cultural conditions of the east and west, islam and christianity, poverty and prosperity. Currently, besides running her practice TReC, Ekim writes her PhD thesis on ‘design and complexity’ at the Delft University of Technology [DUT] and the International New Towns Institute [INTI]. In 2010 she will partner the Brussels based NGO citymine[d] with the EU project ‘Europe from the Bottom Up’ In the past, she has worked with Rotterdam-based offices Urban Affairs and De Urbanisten, as well as with Dutch municipalities and urban design offices in projects such as creating city vision 2035 for Rotterdam, Veenkolonien in Groningen, Homeruskwartier, Almere. She has been regularly teaching and lecturing worldwide; amongst which for the Aleppo University for Arts and Sciences, Rotterdam Architecture Academy, Amsterdam Architecture Academy, Copenhagen Business School, Middle East Technical University. Born in Istanbul, Ekim graduated as an architect at Middle East Technical University [METU] with the Archiprix Award in 1999, and got her second degree in urbanism of the Technical University Delft with distinction in 2005.

Muge Yorganci has joined TReC in January 2010.

Muge is conducting her masters degree in the urban design program of the Yildiz Technical University [YTU] . She already holds a second undergraduate degree in the field of Art Management. Her research interests are cultural industires, products of daily life in metropol and public spaces. Besides her studies, she has been gaining experience through joining organizing teams of International Urban Forums, such as 42th International Society of City and Regional Planners [ISOCARP], as well as studying in the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey [TUBITAK] funded academic research project on real estate. She gained experience as an intern in Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Center [IMP] and private offices such as OMGEVİNG . She is also assisting cultural and cultural economy inventory studies conducting in YTU. Born in istanbul, Muge holds an urban and regional planning degree in Yıldız Technical University.

Hans Vermeulen has joined TReC in June 2009.

Hans is one of the founders of DUS Architects in Amsterdam. The architecture of DUS (DUS means SO?! in English) goes beyond building. To (d)us, architecture has social significance. DUS facilitates human events: A breakfast at a table standing on the pavement qualifies as architecture, as it stimulates human interaction. It is with these types of social components, next to the conventional construction materials, that the designs of DUS are taking shape. DUS thinks of architecture as a craftsmanship, office’s motto is: Design and Research by doing. Born in the Netherlands, Hans has studied architecture at the TU Delft.

Ulas Akin has joined TReC in January 2010.
Ulas is an experienced planner, acting in a large range of scales from urban design to regional planning. He is an active member of Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Center [IMP], the alternative planning organization of the city. Supported by his international experience and networks, within IMP, he plays a significant role for the EU relations and international affairs, such as organizing international workshops with 22@Barcelona, London School of Economics, Municipalities and Harbor Companies of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Besides his senior planner role, Ulas conducts a research on capacity building in urban management and writes his doctoral thesis in the Istanbul Technical University. He uses the actor-network theory to analyze Istanbul’s urban and regional planning experience in the last decade, and plans to apply serious gaming onto the field of capacity building via the ongoing TReC project PLAY THE CITY. Born in Istanbul, Ulas is trained as an urban and regional planner at the Istanbul Technical University. He holds an international diploma from Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies [IHS] at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in urban governance and public management. Currently, he collected his last diploma in the field of international leadership from the Common Purpose designed for public, private, and civic society leaders and managers of Istanbul.

Diana Ibanez Lopez has joined TReC in August 2009.

Diana co-founded the now nationwide ICT conferences at Cambridge Univeristy and is a member of ASF-UK. After graduating she worked in Valencia 2006/7 and then at MVRDV in Rotterdam for over two years. In 2008 she wrote for the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture. Based in Cairo this year, Diana is mapping emergent densification [TReCairo] as well as working as a journalist and creative editor for ‘magaz‘, a Cairo design magazine. Born in Spain, Diana studied Architecture at Cambridge University where she developed research interests in migration and frontier urbanism.

Marwan Fayed has joined TReC in November 2009.

Since 2005 Marwan has been exploring Cairo’s urban structure through experimental interventions in which function is not dictated by design but rather responds to the spontaneity of a constantly mutating streetscape. His observations focus on the spatial manifestation of social habits. Marwan currently investigates small-scale informal additions to the city fabric caused by Cairo’s unprecedented growth. He recently presented his work at the Symposium on Kharita Urban Trajectories. Born in Cairo, Marwan Fayed completed his undergraduate degree in architecture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University in 2003 and now teaches at the German University in Cairo.