Incorporating United Nations 2030 Sustainable Future Agenda into the Architectural Studio: A Graduation Studio Case

Abstract

United Nations (UN) released the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. This agenda has received attention from various disciplines and sectors globally; partnerships from private and public sectors were formed to play a role in this challenging ambitious plan. However, architectural education and professional organisations in Turkey have not been strongly engaged with the agenda in particular. To meet this gap and create synergy, this paper aims at presenting pedagogical paths followed in a graduation studio, integrating the studio outcomes with UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have not been widely covered either in nationwide architectural education or professional policies. In addition, the paper focuses on how the SDG action plan is echoed in higher education as well as in the discipline of architecture in Turkey. The paper is a case study in architectural education of which the motivation is to create awareness about UN SDGs among the students; to give insights and demonstrate a realistic design policy to achieve development targets. The pedagogical path presented here is original and aims to fulfill an interlude in the literature, which is still emerging. The case presentation includes the process and the results with a sufficient number of student projects as outcomes of the studio.