Talking about architecture and urban transformations becomes more urgent than before to comprehend the complexity of the scenario of frictions between global and local needs, but there is the urgency to raise more awareness and understanding on the environment we are living in.

Today, architects and cultural mediators should explore new forms of expression of the contents they produces - embodied in their projects - and propose new visions, from the general to a micro scale.
Within the frame of City Portraits, a series of international conferences and guide books promoted by the School of Doctorate Studies of Università Iuav of Venice, we have curated conference-guide book on Istanbul with the aim to develop a new way to divulgate scientific discourses - reaching a wider audience - by involving not only architects, but also artists, photographers, geographers, sociologists, writers and designers. We believe in a need of interdisciplinary dialogue on architecture.