Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nazlı Yücel Batmaz

Programme Director

In today’s world, where the meaning of city management is constantly changing and the search for more participation and partnership continues, the need for studies that will enable the construction of urban democracy and its response in practice is increasing. It is an inevitable reality that citizens, who experience all the advantages and disadvantages of urban life together, have the right to make decisions on their lives. In this context, the main objective of the Urban Management and Democratization Studies Working Group Programme is to produce functional urban management models by conducting studies aimed at democratization in both local governments and citizens within complex urban processes.

The programme aims to make cities effective areas where active citizenship and urbanity awareness is required, where local democracy is the application area, where citizens make decisions about all urban processes that concern them, democracy develops and local democracy practices turn into practice. It is essential to produce innovative ideas and practices for raising the necessary awareness on the social base for the demand for the right to the city, and for taking the necessary steps for the establishment of the right to the city under the leadership of local governments in response to this demand.

In this framework, all subjects and problem areas that can be addressed by conducting urban management from the definition of the city vision that will form the basis for social development and urban development to the determination of policies and strategies that will embody this vision, from the planning and design processes that form the basis of the built environment production to the production and presentation of urban services, are within the scope of this programme. will be examined. In addition to all these, monitoring the local governments and the municipal works they are currently carrying out, developing proposals for participatory city management models and innovative participation tools will also be within the scope of the programme.

The Institute of Urban Studies aims to contribute to the democratization of the city administration by organizing scientific research, publications, reports, analyzes, seminars, and workshops in order to develop the necessary tools and suitable environment for the joint city management while creating and presenting the demands about the city.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nazlı Yücel Batmaz

She received her undergraduate degree from Gazi University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration in 2001 and her master’s degree in Gazi University Institute of Social Sciences, Urbanization and Environmental Problems. She completed her doctorate at Gazi University Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Public Administration. Batmaz is a consultant in the ongoing United Nations Local Administration Reform (Phase III) Project. She works in the fields of the city, urban sociology, citizens’ rights, local governments, and the environment. She is still working as a lecturer at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University, Department of Political Science and Public Administration.