We live in a world where nature moves away from cities and cities move away from their own nature. Our planet, humanity and all other living things pay the price of this alienation by facing irreversible disasters such as the climate crisis. 

As cities break away from the ecosystem of which they are part of, they become machines that produce pollution, injustice and disasters. Hence, they lose their resilience.

IZPA brings ecosystem values, academic data and the participation of citizens together to propose a new way of urban design. This design challenges the classical understanding of urbanism through a new social contract built on harmony with life. The principal way to improve the resilience of cities of our era is to develop breathing urban environments being an integral part of life on earth.

At the World Union of Municipalities Culture Summit held in İzmir in September 2021, the concept of “Circular Culture” was introduced as one of the new terms of urbanism.

The circular culture concept rises on four main pillars: Harmony with each other. Harmony with nature. Harmony with the past. Finally, harmony with change.

In Izmir, we adopted the four pillars of circular culture as a solid strategy to implement circular urbanism. These pillars also form the basis of IZPA’s four programs that are closely linked with each other:

Harmony with each other > Imece Izmir Program

Harmony with nature > Ecosystem Izmir Program

Harmony with the past > Izmir Heritage Program

Harmony with change > Izmir Transformation Office