In nowadays, ‘planetary urbanization’ has been widely debated, and problems in urban areas are expanding and deepening. While the economic preferences that directing urbanization processes are the main causes for expanding and deepening problems, urbanization policies by political authorities reinforce these economic preferences. In the face of predicaments in urban areas, focusing on “right” based life quality approaches appears as an important starting point.

On the one hand, with new conceptual frameworks such as sustainable and resilient cities or smart and creative cities, there is a continuing search for attributing new meanings and missions to the cities. Yet, on the other hand ever-changing crisis of neoliberal political economy fail to deliver even the most basic urban services and provide equitable accessibility to them. Beside, as a result of neoliberal urbanization processes adverse effects such as climate change, inefficient use of resources, disaster risks and mass migration are articulated into increasing unemployment, poverty, deprivation and anti-democratization processes and cities become spirals of problems.

In the face of this process, which restricts livability in cities and even in the countryside, the issue of ‘quality of life’ is needed to be addressed and to be discussed from different dimensions. Although international umbrella organizations such as the United Nations have set some criteria for improving the quality of life for the common future of cities and societies, it is clear that these criteria cannot find a response in most of the world cities.  With such an objective criteria, which cannot go beyond determining and comparing levels of inter-communal development, the policies and approaches to increase life quality are often ignored. However, these criteria, which cannot be distracted from objectivity, does not refer to contextual structural conditions, inter-communal and intra-communal differences, cultural diversity, and most importantly, daily life itself and its components.

In order to increase life quality, the approaches, policies and practices based on ‘right’ principle have become a necessity rather than a choice.The process experienced so far has shown that the search for urban rights, which emerged and spread in the social bases, demands not only access to urban services but also to be a natural part of all urbanization processes in order to secure the common future of humanity. In that regard, providing a process organization that is not only driven by policy makers and certain social groups but also is participated, checked, held responsible and questioned by all social segments from professionals to urban dwellers is a main component to increase quality of life. In fact, taking this factor into consideration when providing urban services will build a common future that is qualified, just, considering societal differences and actual needs, sensitive to environment and resource-efficiency and finally is designed with a participatory democracy.

The 5th Conference on Urban Studies under the theme of “Urbanization and Quality of Life” aims at moving beyond determining current problems of cities and urbanization processes and envisions to discussnew approaches to livable cities. In this context, we invite you to the congress to discuss and reflect on the works that consider structural conditions and everyday life together with different dimensions, and offering approaches within the framework of information and demands produced in social base instead of top-down information and the determinations made with universal criteria.