Kitchen Meetings:
Organizing Spaces for Care and Solidarity: University Community Gardens
Salt Beyoğlu
February 14, 2026 11.00
View from the Ayazağa Garden, Istanbul Technical University, 2025
Photo: Fırat Karakurt
Photo: Fırat Karakurt
Kitchen
The first session in the series of “Kitchen Meetings” focuses on university community gardens as spaces where collective labor is organized and cultures of care and solidarity are enacted—extending beyond their use as sites of urban agriculture. The program brings together Nur Avcı (Campus Gardens), Ege Mehmet Akman (Bilgi Çatı Garden), Öykü Bilici and Ahmet Burak Aslan (Tarlataban), Fırat Karakurt (Ayazağa Garden), and Ekrem Osman Çebi (Taşkışla Devrim Garden).
Emerging alongside solidarity practices that gained momentum through social movements in the 2010s, community gardens in Istanbul took shape around struggles for food sovereignty and the right to the city. While some of these initiatives have faded over time, others continue to resist, and new ones are emerging. In a context marked by increasing urban fragmentation, shrinking public spaces, and limited opportunities to gather outside consumption-driven routines, community gardens offer vital alternatives that enable collective production, sharing, and care.
Drawing inspiration from the renewed momentum of university community gardens following the student movement in March 2025, this session features five initiatives to discuss the possibilities these spaces offer and how they might be sustained, expanded, reclaimed, or reimagined. Nur Avcı will present Campus Gardens, a newly formed initiative that aims to foster collaboration and experience-sharing among university gardens. She will outline the collective’s intentions and its potential to function as an umbrella platform for participating university gardens. Ege Mehmet Akman will share the story of Bilgi Çatı Garden, established on the roof of a faculty building at Istanbul Bilgi University through the efforts of diverse members of the university community, and inspired by a garden that has been sustained for over a decade with the support of the Department of Gastronomy. Öykü Bilici and Ahmet Burak Aslan will introduce Tarlataban, a garden and community at Boğaziçi University that practices agroecological production based on collective labor and volunteerism. They will share insights on how the garden—open to participants both within and outside the university—provides a space for collective planting, harvesting, and compost production, as well as reflection on questions of fair food. Fırat Karakurt will speak about Ayazağa Garden—an ecological community garden at Istanbul Technical University’s Ayazağa Campus, home to a wide range of medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetables, and flowers. He will address how the garden translates discussions around the right to the city and food sovereignty into concrete practices through regular meetings and workshops. Ekrem Osman Çebi will present Taşkışla Devrim Garden, initiated by students at Istanbul Technical University’s Taşkışla Campus and shaped by the spirit of solidarity that emerged during the student movement in March 2025. He will share the community’s work on ecological farming, engagement with solidarity economy models, and efforts to encourage student participation in decision-making related to campus land use. He will also reflect on the garden’s aim to cultivate a culture of sharing, expand networks of solidarity, sustain agricultural and social production, and strengthen students’ presence in public spaces.
The gathering will begin with the collective preparation of vegetarian snacks using ingredients sourced from university gardens and the Beyoğlu Food Collective. The food will be shared during the presentations, followed by a discussion. The presentations and discussion will be held in Turkish and are open to everyone, while participation in the food preparation workshop is limited to 25 people.
PROGRAM
11.00 Collective Food Preparation
12.00 Presentations
13.00 Discussion
“Kitchen Meetings” is presented as part of Practice Matters, a long-term project exploring design, craft, architecture, and spatial practices and their ability to respond to urgent issues of conflict and crisis. The project is developed in collaboration between IASPIS and Salt and is programmed by Magnus Ericson and Eylül Şenses.
Ahmet Burak Arslan is a student at the Department of Mathematics at Boğaziçi University and a volunteer with Tarlataban and the Boğaziçi Members Consumption Cooperative (BÜKOOP). His interests span healthy and fair agriculture, solidarity-based production practices, and collective efforts to make food accessible to all.
Ege Mehmet Akman is a research assistant in the Department of Sociology at Istanbul Bilgi University and a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. His work focuses on gardens, other commons, and their diverse stakeholders.
Ekrem Osman Çebi is a student in the Department of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University and a volunteer at Devrim Garden. He is engaged with issues around the public use of urban land.
Fırat Karakurt is a student in the Department of Food Engineering at Istanbul Technical University and a practitioner working at the intersection of ecological agriculture, resilient food systems, food sovereignty, urban commons, and community-based production. Drawing on his experience in regenerative agriculture, food processing, and fieldwork, he organizes volunteer networks and workshops to foster spaces of collective labor and solidarity, including Campus Gardens.
Nur Avcı is a graduate of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University. Her work focuses on Istanbul, well-being, and the sustainability of communities. She began as a volunteer at Tarlataban and continues her practice with Campus Gardens, combining urban agriculture with communication and educational work.
Öykü Bilici is an undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology at Boğaziçi University. Active in the BÜKOOP and Tarlataban communities, she enjoys hands-on work and is interested in community-based processes of production and consumption.
The first session in the series of “Kitchen Meetings” focuses on university community gardens as spaces where collective labor is organized and cultures of care and solidarity are enacted—extending beyond their use as sites of urban agriculture. The program brings together Nur Avcı (Campus Gardens), Ege Mehmet Akman (Bilgi Çatı Garden), Öykü Bilici and Ahmet Burak Aslan (Tarlataban), Fırat Karakurt (Ayazağa Garden), and Ekrem Osman Çebi (Taşkışla Devrim Garden).
Emerging alongside solidarity practices that gained momentum through social movements in the 2010s, community gardens in Istanbul took shape around struggles for food sovereignty and the right to the city. While some of these initiatives have faded over time, others continue to resist, and new ones are emerging. In a context marked by increasing urban fragmentation, shrinking public spaces, and limited opportunities to gather outside consumption-driven routines, community gardens offer vital alternatives that enable collective production, sharing, and care.
Drawing inspiration from the renewed momentum of university community gardens following the student movement in March 2025, this session features five initiatives to discuss the possibilities these spaces offer and how they might be sustained, expanded, reclaimed, or reimagined. Nur Avcı will present Campus Gardens, a newly formed initiative that aims to foster collaboration and experience-sharing among university gardens. She will outline the collective’s intentions and its potential to function as an umbrella platform for participating university gardens. Ege Mehmet Akman will share the story of Bilgi Çatı Garden, established on the roof of a faculty building at Istanbul Bilgi University through the efforts of diverse members of the university community, and inspired by a garden that has been sustained for over a decade with the support of the Department of Gastronomy. Öykü Bilici and Ahmet Burak Aslan will introduce Tarlataban, a garden and community at Boğaziçi University that practices agroecological production based on collective labor and volunteerism. They will share insights on how the garden—open to participants both within and outside the university—provides a space for collective planting, harvesting, and compost production, as well as reflection on questions of fair food. Fırat Karakurt will speak about Ayazağa Garden—an ecological community garden at Istanbul Technical University’s Ayazağa Campus, home to a wide range of medicinal and aromatic plants, vegetables, and flowers. He will address how the garden translates discussions around the right to the city and food sovereignty into concrete practices through regular meetings and workshops. Ekrem Osman Çebi will present Taşkışla Devrim Garden, initiated by students at Istanbul Technical University’s Taşkışla Campus and shaped by the spirit of solidarity that emerged during the student movement in March 2025. He will share the community’s work on ecological farming, engagement with solidarity economy models, and efforts to encourage student participation in decision-making related to campus land use. He will also reflect on the garden’s aim to cultivate a culture of sharing, expand networks of solidarity, sustain agricultural and social production, and strengthen students’ presence in public spaces.
The gathering will begin with the collective preparation of vegetarian snacks using ingredients sourced from university gardens and the Beyoğlu Food Collective. The food will be shared during the presentations, followed by a discussion. The presentations and discussion will be held in Turkish and are open to everyone, while participation in the food preparation workshop is limited to 25 people.
PROGRAM
11.00 Collective Food Preparation
12.00 Presentations
13.00 Discussion
“Kitchen Meetings” is presented as part of Practice Matters, a long-term project exploring design, craft, architecture, and spatial practices and their ability to respond to urgent issues of conflict and crisis. The project is developed in collaboration between IASPIS and Salt and is programmed by Magnus Ericson and Eylül Şenses.
Ahmet Burak Arslan is a student at the Department of Mathematics at Boğaziçi University and a volunteer with Tarlataban and the Boğaziçi Members Consumption Cooperative (BÜKOOP). His interests span healthy and fair agriculture, solidarity-based production practices, and collective efforts to make food accessible to all.
Ege Mehmet Akman is a research assistant in the Department of Sociology at Istanbul Bilgi University and a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. His work focuses on gardens, other commons, and their diverse stakeholders.
Ekrem Osman Çebi is a student in the Department of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University and a volunteer at Devrim Garden. He is engaged with issues around the public use of urban land.
Fırat Karakurt is a student in the Department of Food Engineering at Istanbul Technical University and a practitioner working at the intersection of ecological agriculture, resilient food systems, food sovereignty, urban commons, and community-based production. Drawing on his experience in regenerative agriculture, food processing, and fieldwork, he organizes volunteer networks and workshops to foster spaces of collective labor and solidarity, including Campus Gardens.
Nur Avcı is a graduate of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University. Her work focuses on Istanbul, well-being, and the sustainability of communities. She began as a volunteer at Tarlataban and continues her practice with Campus Gardens, combining urban agriculture with communication and educational work.
Öykü Bilici is an undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology at Boğaziçi University. Active in the BÜKOOP and Tarlataban communities, she enjoys hands-on work and is interested in community-based processes of production and consumption.
