Code City Lab is an academic platform dedicated to advancing comparative research and interdisciplinary research on the evolving urban and cultural landscapes of cities. Focusing on Istanbul, Torino, and Beijing, the lab provides a space for in-depth interviews with architects, urban planners, scholars, and everyday residents, critically examining the historical forces that have shaped these cities and exploring their potential futures in the context of global urbanization. By placing different urban models side by side, Code City Lab investigates how tradition, innovation, and globalization interact in distinct yet interconnected ways across these three metropolitan environments.
The lab’s research methodology is grounded in comparative, in-depth, question-and-answer-based interviews. Prior to each interview, questions are shared with participants to encourage thoughtful, reflective responses. All discussions are recorded, with the potential to be transformed into visual essays that offer additional layers of analysis and dissemination. Each conversation may center on a shared urban challenge—such as the housing market crisis, large-scale redevelopment, or cultural heritage preservation—or on a specific geographic context, using Istanbul, Torino, and Beijing as comparative case studies to illuminate similarities, contrasts, and cross-influences.
A dedicated network section maps and visualizes the scope of the lab’s research, highlighting key locations and contributors across the three cities. This evolving framework acts as a comparative research atlas, revealing the intersections, divergences, and overlapping dynamics that shape the urban and cultural identities of Istanbul, Torino, and Beijing within the larger global context.
