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A new international platform for Design in İstanbul.
Global Design Forum İstanbul launched a new programme of talks, installations and citywide experiences which took 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 brought 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 for its inaugural edition.
Across the four days, the programme extended beyond the Forum through citywide programming including İstanbullar: Creative Archive, Placemaking public installations, and a design competition, creating encounters that moved between ideas, places and people across the city.
Artistic Direction was led by Melek Zeynep Bulut, Founder of People Places Ideas, with curation by Forum Content Advisor Beatrice Galilee. The core team was supported by Beral Madra (Art & Culture Advisor) and Celâleddin Çelik (Architectural Advisor).
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