URBAN STRATA

Following the successful delivery of Return on Investment Modelling exercise for Istanbul, the consultant was approached for a long-term commitment to help advise the firm for their consultancy services provided to Kuwait Municipality in preparation for the country's next master plan.

The project includes strategic overview, socio-economic, land-use, transport, utilities infrastructure studies, as well as development of local action plans for a number of districts and towns as planning and urban design case studies.

Omer Cavusoglu's multi-faceted contribution includes presentations to client on developing methodological approaches to analyses, building up a geographical information systems-based evaluation tool for development projects, as well as assist in coordinating workshops.

�mer �avu?o?lu helped build a financial model for revaluation of a large bank and its assets for debt restructuring and developed masterplanning and strategic initiative ideas for future development on available land for an undisclosed client in a capital city in the Middle East.

The project took over the summer months of 2017 and focussed primarily on revenue-generating strategic action plans from part-completed Phase 1 development to foresee potential development scenarios and timelines for a Phase 2 development with an indicative masterplan.

Perkins+Will are global leaders in architecture and urban design with a special emphasis on resilient placemaking. Anchoring their recent work in Turkey, they have been exploring ways to bring in evidence-backed design processes into discussions with multiple stakeholders on large-scale development projects.

Omer Cavusoglu was approached to develop a research methodology to create an analytical framework through which to provide such evidence. Early conversations between the consultant and the design director, David Green, revealed a desire to build a city-wide understanding of Istanbul's value proposition and understand the socio-economic, historic, cultural and spatial components of value.

The first phase of the project was centred around conceptualisation of "resilience" and testing various methodologies. Through the second phase, a city-wide investigation and neighbourhood-level analyses were conducted via mappping, correlation and multiple regression analyses. Connectivity, amenity, proximity, land-use and historic value observations were gathered and a set of recommendations have been disseminated on mixed-use planning policy and development targets.

Emre Arolat Architects are a leading Turkish architectural practice with a new (2014) office in London. They have collaborated with Prof. Murat Guvenc and Omer Cavusoglu to curate an exhibition, displayed at the Royal Institute of British Architects' Practice Space in Central London, revealing the complex layers of history which contrast with modern developments, and the challenges faced by Istanbul and London as they enter into a programme of major projects and infrastructure such as airport expansion, cross-city transport and bridges.

Omer Cavusoglu prepared the contents for the London section of the exhibition, contributing to a timeline spanning the past two centuries, depicting key moments in London's urban development, explained in further detail by textual and visual boxes, arranged under distinct themes, and running parallel to similar developments in Istanbul. He also sought visual references such as archival images, photography, maps and graphic representations and arranged all the contractual details for their use in the exhibition. The exhibition is scheduled to be dislpayed in Istanbul, later in 2015-2016.

ZZA are a London-based consultancy firm that provide services in research and strategy, primarily focused around user research on buildings and building sites. They carry out pre-design and post-occupancy evaluations, and brief clients on design strategy. Clients include architects, developers, landowners.

Omer Cavusoglu has established good working relationships with ZZA and have provided services in creation of major reports to two developers from construction and insurance industries, as well as preparing briefings and presentations for public audiences and prospective clients. Work on reports involved quantitative and qualitative analyses on data collected by ZZA via questionnaires, and preparation of textual and graphic contents for final outputs.

German industrial firm Daimler AG approached Ludwig Engel of raumtaktik, Berlin for a report on the development of future new cities across the globe. Engel has partnered with Omer Cavusoglu to deliver a scoping work to identify the different types and configurations of future developments, proposing a number of case studies to delve deeper into understanding their delivery mechanisms.

Omer Cavusoglu was brought into the project at the initial stage to prepare the research programme, carry out quantitative and qualitative research, co-edit the contents and the design of the final report. Sections of the report may be made available to interested parties.

The twelfth of the Urban Age Conferences took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October 2013, with the theme of major-scale urban transformations at its centre. Attended by over 300 people, including policymakers from Rio, Sao Paulo and other states of Brazil as well as the central government; NGO representatives from the city; architects, planners, developers and academics from across the world, the Conference put micro- and macro-interventions into Rio de Janeiro’s urban environment into perspective with respect to other world cities.

I have been responsible for coordinating the organisation of the Conference, with partners in Brazil. This involved the creation of a strong line-up of speakers in conjunction with the directorate and the research team, as well as operational coordination, overseeing event and venue design, and setup, and managing the groundwork over the actual days of the Conference.

The Conference Newspaper, reflecting detailed work carried out on spatial representations of themes that formed the core of the Conference, consisted of 60 pages, including 14 essays from local and international authors. It has made comparative analyses of transport infrastructure investments, port redevelopment projects, and neighbourhood renewals.

I have been one of the editors, and the chief coordinator, of the publication, working in tandem with the research team to create, edit and prepare to press, the analytical data sections, as well as commission, collate and edit essays and photography. The task also includes overseeing the design, printing, and distribution of copies of what is a high-end publication product.

This 2013 June production is a follow-up to the work carried out for the 2010 Urban Age Conference, The Global Metro Summit. Four case studies from Barcelona, Munich, Seoul, and Turin compare how different cities react to the changing circumstances of their industrial bases.

The eleventh Urban Age Conference took place in London, around the theme of future of urbanisation as technological innovations try to tackle the question of urban and environmental sustainability. British Prime Minister David Cameron and the London Mayor Boris Johnson launched the Old Street Roundabout Tech Hub Project at the Conference, while representatives from world cities, UN departments, academia and the architecture and planning professions discussed the social dimensions of technological change.

The 52-page Conference Newspaper was a unique black-white-yellow print, symbolising its central notions of electricity and energy and was a thematic publication comparing global production, consumption and use of energy patterns; adaptation and implementation methods; with a special focus on London. The publication management consisted of collating and editing written and visual material as well as working on a design language, and printing production.

Istanbul Finance Centre is an ambitious project, to be developed in Atasehir to try to attract higher foreign involvement into Turkey’s financial systems and consolidate the spatial and organisational structure of the local players. An advisory team to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the respective Ministries of Turkey have travelled to global financial centres to learn from best practice. Their London visit included a full-day workshop at the LSE, where they heard from experts on planning, economics, and management.

The second major book to come out of LSE Cities, Living in the Endless City summarised the work carried out for the Centre’s annual conferences during 2007-2009, visiting Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Istanbul. As the assistant editor, and publication manager, I worked with 36 authors, 40 photographers, 2 editors, the graphic designers, and the publishers to create this 512-page chronicle.

The ninth Urban Age Conference, in Istanbul, explored the idea of urban regeneration and redevelopment of historic cities. It was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey and the Mayor of Istanbul, and heard presentations from District Mayors, former and current state ministers from, as well as community and neighbourhood initiative representatives, young and emerging architects, and planners.

The Conference and its Newspaper required insights from a local expert on urbanism where I prepared research briefs, organised and chaired meetings with key stakeholders, helped with the logistics of the conference and the production of the newspaper, as well as become the key contact between the Centre and the participants.