Zeynep Gunay

Zeynep Günay is an Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Istanbul Technical University, where she has worked since 2001. Her research interrogates the intersection of heritage, neoliberal urbanism, and social justice through projects in Turkey and global contexts like Chile, Morocco, and Bosnia.

• PhD in Urban and Regional Planning (ITU, 2011)
• Diploma in Inner City Development (IHS-Rotterdam, 2003)
• Master's degrees in Urban Conservation (ITU, 2004) and Regeneration Studies (Cardiff, 2007)

Research focuses on critical heritage studies, conflict heritage, urban regeneration, and public space politics. She explores how neoliberal agendas reshape historic landscapes and how marginalized communities resist through everyday heritage practices.

Recent publications examine queer migrant spatiality, heritage-as-activism, and pedagogies of urban resistance. Her work connects with global networks through the Horizon 2020 MSCA-RISE Project and Erasmus+ CIRC.LE initiative.

• European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra (2004)
• Gerd Albers Award (ISOCARP, 2015)
• ITU Zirvede Ödülü (2018)
• Emerald Literati Outstanding Reviewer (2012)

Engaged in international planning bodies as former ISOCARP Vice President and ICOMOS member, she bridges academia with municipal policy through projects like Istanbul Historic Peninsula Conservation (2003) and Vision 2050 Heritage Strategy (2021-2022).