The Great Game
Hands-on training in negotiation, strategy, and design agency on a live urban gameboard.
01 — About
Why this workshop
International visibility, strategic foresight, and professional development — in a live urban context.
A joint initiative of Politecnico di Torino (Italy), AURA Istanbul, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and UBT College Kosovo. Graduate students in architecture, urban design and planning, City and Regional Planning, and Architecture and Spatial Planning apply The Great Game — a pedagogical experiment from Politecnico — to a real case study in Kartal, Istanbul.
The workshop tests a proven international methodology on active urban transformation, producing scenarios grounded in regulation, economy, and governance — with direct relevance for the city and its institutions. Universities, local authorities, practitioners, and emerging designers work together in an intensive setting where ideas can be tested before implementation.
What students gain
International network
Intensive collaboration across Politecnico di Torino, AURA Istanbul, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and UBT College Kosovo.
Professional exposure
Direct contact with practitioners, stakeholders, and institutions shaping Istanbul and Kartal.
02 — Framework
The Great Game
Design is collective and political, yet studios often teach the architect as lone author. In practice, ideas must be negotiated with politicians, experts, investors, and communities — adapted and legitimised by those who shape space.
Can that competence be taught? The Great Game says yes: participants define strategies, align actors, and learn how concepts become implementable through institutional and economic dynamics. Tested over five years on gameboards in Detroit, Stazzema, Kiruna, and Belgrade; a finalist for the EAAE Pedagogy Awards 2024 (see References).
Site context · Kartal, Istanbul
The workshop centres on Kartal — a district in active transformation, with regulatory conditions well suited to the game. Students respond to real spatial, regulatory, and stakeholder challenges at the intersection of architectural vision and metropolitan politics.
Here the city is the gameboard: a bounded field of competing interests and incomplete information. The stakes must be real — constraints that hold, actors with institutional weight, conditions that resist easy answers.
03 — Partners
Institutional partners
Italy
Politecnico di Torino — DAD
Department of Architecture and Design: a leading unit dedicated to architecture, urban design, and design — integrating education, research, and knowledge transfer across sustainability, economics, heritage, and cultural production.
Turkey
AURA Istanbul
Academy of Architecture and Urban Research — an independent non-profit institution addressing global challenges shaping contemporary cities, with particular focus on Istanbul. Certificate programmes, research, and design initiatives for emerging professionals.
Turkey
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University
Faculty of Architecture — among Turkey's oldest institutions (from 1882). Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in architecture, urban design, and city planning engaging Istanbul's transformation.
Kosovo
UBT College Kosovo
Pioneering higher education in architecture, urban planning, and design — applied research, sustainability, and technology-driven, project-based learning with international collaboration.
Guest speakers · collaborating organisation
Turkey · Civil society
Mekanda Adalet — Center for Spatial Justice (MAD)
Mekanda Adalet Derneği (Center for Spatial Justice) works across urban and rural space for fairer, ecological, and democratic processes — research, publishing, mapping, and academy programmes. Guest speakers from MAD: Bahar Bayhan and Hüseyincan Eryılmaz.
Host institution
On-site host · Kartal, Istanbul
Kartal Municipality
Under Mayor Gökhan Yüksel, Kartal Municipality hosts the Summer School on site — supporting the on-site programme, local institutional dialogue, and the district as a setting for international academic exchange on urban design and transformation.
Graphic design
kankan看看
kankan看看 produced the workshop poster and visual communications for The Great Game Design Summer School — supporting the programme's public presence and outreach across partner institutions.
04 — Programme
Structure & calendar (to be confirmed)
10 days
On-site duration · fieldwork, studio, reviews, presentations
21
Graduate students · 7 per institution
9
Faculty · 3 per partner institution
2
Online preparatory seminars before arrival
Students are distributed equally across partner institutions — 7 from Politecnico di Torino, 7 from Istanbul-based institutions (AURA Istanbul and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University), and 7 from UBT College Kosovo. Faculty accompany and tutor their groups and facilitate inter-institutional dynamics central to the model.
Selection: competitive application evaluated on academic portfolio, CV, and statement of purpose — assembling a cohort with complementary profiles and capacity for collaborative, strategically oriented work.
Preparatory timeline
-
till 15 July
Open call closed
145 applications received from graduate and master's students across Politecnico di Torino, AURA Istanbul, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and UBT College Kosovo.
-
20 July 2026
21 places awarded
Selected cohort announced — seven students per partner track; travel and logistical arrangements initiated.
-
24 – 25 August 2026
Online preparatory seminars
Great Game introduction, then guest lectures by Özlem Altınkaya Genel and Murat Güvenç (24 August); critical perspectives and Kartal briefing (25 August). Kick-off at AURA on 31 August.
-
29 August – 8 September 2026
Istanbul workshop
On-site programme in Kartal and across Istanbul.
Detailed programme · 24 Aug – 8 Sep 2026 (check updates)
Pre-workshop
On-site programme
Time
24 AugMon
25 AugTue
29 AugSat
30 AugSun
31 AugMon
1 SepTue
2 SepWed
3 SepThu
4 SepFri
5 SepSat
6 SepSun
7 SepMon
8 SepTue
Morning
S01 · Online
Great Game + Istanbul
Game structure, rules, actor introductions; Istanbul macro-scale briefing.
Online · 11:30
Guest lecture
Özlem Altınkaya Genel
Reading Istanbul at the Regional Scale · Marmara Region.
Online · 12:30
Guest lecture
Murat Güvenç
Reading Istanbul Through Data · growth, demography, spatial patterns.
Online · 13:30
S02 · Online
Critical perspectives & Kartal
Kosovo team viewpoints; Municipality site presentation.
Online · 11:30
Arrival
Flights arrive · check-in · welcome.
Istanbul
National holiday
Kartal field survey
On-site orientation; gameboard walk; Hangar first touch.
Kartal · Hangar
◉ Kick-off · AURA
Great Game Experience
Public presentation by Valeria Federighi & Edoardo Bruno.
AURA Istanbul
Historical Peninsula
City walk from Karaköy; evening lecture Scent Of The Trace.
Historical Peninsula
● First collective check
Kankan Collective
Interscalar Mapping · 10:00–11:00
Makina Hangar + YouTube Live
Site visits
Upper, central, and waterfront teams.
Kartal · Hangar
Public lecture
Center for Spatial Justice
Bahar Bayhan & Hüseyincan Eryılmaz — Never Ending, Ever Changing Cycle.
Makina Hangar · 14:00–15:00
Hangar studio
Morning working session.
Hangar Istanbul
Collective work
Morning studio at the Hangar.
Hangar Istanbul
Tsinghua
Liu Jian & Lai Yuan
Beijing planning governance · Street-Smart City / AI urban intelligence.
Makina Hangar · 10:30–12:30
● Second collective check
AURA working day
Full working session at AURA.
AURA Istanbul
Half-day studio
Collective working morning.
Hangar Istanbul
● Final collective check
Mimar Sinan studio
Working hours with professors.
Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University
Final studio
Final design, printing, and exhibition install.
Hangar Istanbul
Evening
First team roundtables
Return to Hangar; initial design work.
Hangar Istanbul
Studio work
Working hours after kick-off.
Hangar Istanbul
Public lecture
Scent Of The Trace
Emre Arolat · Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum.
Mimar Sinan · 18:00
Roundtable 1
15-minute presentations from each group.
Hangar · 17:30
Wild card
Municipality Planning Commission.
Hangar Istanbul
Roundtable 2
15-minute presentations; teaching team feedback.
Hangar · 17:00
Michele Bonino
Pedagogy X Practice
Hybrid lecture followed by wild card moment.
AURA Istanbul · 18:00
Final revision
Presentations with all actors.
Mimar Sinan · 16:00
Final exhibition
Public presentations and exhibition.
Hangar Istanbul
Closing ceremony
With Mayor Gökhan Yüksel and partners.
Hangar Istanbul
Closing dinner
Collective dinner · venue TBC.
Venue TBC
05 — Team
Faculty members
06 — Guest Speakers
Guest Speakers
Online and on-site lectures include Özlem Altınkaya Genel and Murat Güvenç (24 August), Emre Arolat — Scent Of The Trace (1 September), kankan看看 and Bahar Bayhan & Hüseyincan Eryılmaz — Center for Spatial Justice (2 September), and Liu Jian & Lai Yuan (Tsinghua, 4 September).
