We are delighted to present ‘This Is Not an Atlas’ in Istanbul and to discuss the potential of counter-mapping in struggles for spatial justice with Mekanda Adalet Derneği – Center for Spatial Justice.
Mekanda Adalet Derneği, short MAD, combines activist research, participatory practice, and critical education, to create fairer, more democratic, ecological urban and rural spaces; to combine cross-disciplinary academic with resident’s and social movement’s knowledge, and to gather, accumulate and share this knowledge and make it accessible to the public. MAD collaborates with communities in Istanbul and beyond, with urban social movements, environmental justice groups and local governance actors, in struggles for the rights of dispossessed / endangered urban communities and against capitalist urban transformation projects. In this way MAD acts as a watchdog over the crimes against the city and nature and as a democratic bridge between local spatial needs and cross disciplinary expertise. MAD carries out ‘action research’, ‘planning with people’ workshops and ‘design and build’ projects, and publishes the print and online journal beyond.istanbul. Furthermore Beyond Office offers an ideal space for architects, planners, designers, researchers, journalists, social scientists and artists interested in the issues of spatial justice and hosts the Spatial Studies Library.
