Elif Erdoğan Öztekin

Elif Öztekin is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalto University's Department of Architecture and an active member of the UrbanAcademy platform. Her work focuses on design-driven sustainability transitions in urban environments, employing transdisciplinary research principles and action research methodology. She collaborates directly with cities, urban planners, and local communities to develop experimental working methods for participatory planning and transition governance.

Dr. Öztekin's research centers on how design practices facilitate learning and enable socio-ecological change in urban contexts. She investigates neighborhood-scale experiments across European cities, particularly Helsinki, examining community-led initiatives that transform settlements through sustainability targets. Her work bridges architecture, urban planning, and transition design to create practical tools for urban resilience, emphasizing co-learning processes and multi-level governance approaches.

Her publication record (2019-2025) reveals consistent advancement in sustainability transition methodologies. Key contributions include developing transition design frameworks for urban contexts, analyzing community experimentation networks, and establishing deep leverage points for post-pandemic sustainability transformations. Her research demonstrates growing international collaboration, particularly with Finnish and European urban stakeholders.

While her postdoctoral role emphasizes independent research over formal teaching, Öztekin actively involves students in UrbanAcademy field projects. These opportunities provide hands-on experience in transdisciplinary research, community engagement, and experimental urban planning. Her work is supported by research grants enabling resource-intensive field studies and city partnerships.

Through the UrbanAcademy platform, Dr. Öztekin co-designs and implements practical tools for participatory urban planning. This collaborative space connects researchers, municipal authorities, and community stakeholders to address sustainability challenges through experimental approaches. Her current projects focus on developing scalable methodologies for transition governance that balance theoretical rigor with practical implementation in real-world urban settings.