Global Design Forum İstanbul

Global Design Forum İstanbul is launching a new programme of talks, installations and citywide experiences taking place 13–16 May 2026 in İstanbul, Türkiye.

Organised in collaboration with People & Places & Ideas (PPI), this is a new design platform where global perspectives and İstanbul's living cultural landscape meet. The Forum brings global voices into conversation with local contexts, traditions and futures - creating an innovative space for design, culture and ideas in one of the world's most layered cities.

At its core, Global Design Forum İstanbul is a thought leadership programme, featuring two days of curated keynotes, panels and in-conversations shaped around the theme Worlds in Contact.

Across the four days, the programme extends beyond the Forum through citywide programming including İstanbullar: Design Route, public installations, and a design competition, creating encounters that move between ideas, places and people across the city.

Artistic Direction is led by Melek Zeynep Bulut, Founder of People & Places & Ideas, with curation by Forum Content Advisor Beatrice Galilee. The core team is supported by Beral Madra (Art & Culture Advisor), Celâleddin Çelik (Architectural Advisor) and Jay Osgerby (Creative Advisor).