In our urban design projects, we always ask: How can urban design become a tool for listening? Not just seeing and drawing spaces, but hearing the voice of the land and its people — listening to the stories, challenges, and hidden assets of the city. Instead of following the classical design approach that begins with analysis and then proceeds to the plan, we chose a fresh angle: design based on real assets and real stories. We call this approach “Design by Story,” where local narratives and the cultural, social, and economic assets of the city become the starting point and the core of the design process.
Along this path, we asked the people: What challenges do you face in everyday life? What things in your neighborhood are valuable to you? And what memories keep these spaces alive? For us, these questions were not just participation tools — they were an inseparable part of the design process. By listening to these stories, we created designs that generate innovation at the intersection of local assets and lived experiences. Instead of focusing solely on deficiencies, we looked at hidden capacities:
– People as primary sources of local knowledge and expertise
– Public spaces as platforms for social interaction
– Culture, collective memory, and the informal economy as the living layers of the city