Post-Disaster Ecological Restoration Strategies for Samandağ Coastline in Hatay, Türkiye

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies presents

Banu Tomruk
Assistant Professor of Architecture, Istanbul Bilgi University; Visiting Scholar at CMES, Harvard University

Banu Tomruk is an architect specializing in ecological urbanism and circular architecture. Her current research focuses on the ecological restoration of post-earthquake regions in Samandağ, Hatay, Turkey, developing resilient recovery strategies and regenerative design solutions for coastal areas. Since 2012, she has contributed to architectural education as an assistant professor at Istanbul Bilgi University. Her teaching portfolio spans undergraduate and graduate courses, including "Mapping: Observing, Interpreting, and Representing the City"; "Critical Urban Representation"; "Architectural Design Studio"; and the "Graduate Design Research Lab". From 2020 to 2024, she directed the Graduate Program in Architectural Design and the Graduate Program in History, Theory, and Criticism in Architecture at Istanbul Bilgi University.

She holds a Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Yıldız Technical University, completed a postgraduate program at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and earned her doctoral degree from Istanbul Technical University. Her research, published in academic journals and conference proceedings, explores contemporary challenges at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, landscape, and environmental resilience.

Contact: Liz Flanagan