Sign up for VMSPACE, Korea's best architecture online magazine.

Login Join


[SPECTRUM] Urban.koop: Urban Studies Cooperative

written by
Urban.koop
materials provided by
Urban.koop
edited by
Youn Yaelim, Lee Sowoon
background

SPACE June 2025 (No. 691)​​

Exhibition view of ¡®Vaha¡¯, a community photography exhibition in a migrant boxing club. It aimed to view everyday immigrant spaces as cultural venues. / ©Urban.koop

 

Participatory design workshop for Healthy Streets Project in Istanbul / ©Urban.koop

 

At Urban.koop, they build social networks before designing spaces and engage communities before transforming streets. Urban.koop advocate for inclusive, sustainable urban change and go beyond design—crafting strategies that shape neighbourhoods. Their cooperative, participatory approach is reflected in projects like the Motorhane Industrial Heritage Re-use in Merzifon, the Healthy Streets Project in Istanbul, and the Havran Urban Design Guidelines in Bal©¥kesir. Through Hubban, an Istanbul-based network, they connect immigrant artists, local creatives, and urban planners to foster collaboration. They design not just places, but frameworks that empower communities to lead their own transformation. 

 

 

Urban Design Guidelines for Maltepe / ©Urban.koop​


Urban.koop 


Principal

Ahmet Onur Altun, Alp Can Ar©¥soy, Batuhan Akkaya, Bihter Çelik, Ceyda Y©¥lmazdoğan Ayd©¥n, Eylül Şenses, Onur Atay

Year of establishment

2020

Location

Istanbul, Türkiye

 
*You can see more information on the SPACE No. June (2025).
*Subscribers can browse through E-Magazine right now. >> Available Here

Architect

Urban.koop

Location

Türkiye

Design period

2019 ‒ 2020

Client

autonomously organised


Is cooperative urbanism and architecture possible in Türkiye? Urban.koop is a non-profit cooperative and a network of urbanists. Their designs and scope for intervention is not limited to physical spaces—it extends to shaping processes, governance models, and community capacities, all through an urbanist approach committed to social and ecological transformation.

COMMENTS