İzmir Workshop With Stakeholders 2026
Climate Challenges in Metropolitan Areas
28–30 September 2026
İZMİR, TÜRKIYE
Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası
Climate Challenges
in Metropolitan Areas
28–30 September 2026
İZMİR, TÜRKIYE
Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası
The first Cli-Met Workshop with Stakeholders will bring together project partners, public officers, local and international stakeholders, researchers, practitioners and learners for three days of exchange on climate action at the metropolitan scale.
Combining keynote sessions, panel discussions, thematic working groups and a field visit, the workshop will connect international expertise with local experiences and encourage shared perspectives on metropolitan climate action.
3 days
28–30 September 2026
İzmir
Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası
Climate
challenges
Mitigation, adaptation and governance
Exchange &
co-creation
Keynotes, panels and working groups
Field-based
learning
Kadifekale Community Garden
3 days
28–30 September 2026
İzmir
Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası
Climate challenges
Mitigation, adaptation and governance
Exchange & co-creation
Keynotes, panels and working groups
Field-based learning
Kadifekale Community Garden
About the İzmir Workshop
The İzmir Workshop with Stakeholders is the first of two stakeholder workshops organised within Cli-Met – Implementing the Climate Agenda in Metropolitan Areas. It is conceived as a meeting space between academic research, metropolitan governance and professional practice.
The workshop will bring together project partners, public officers, local and international stakeholders, researchers, practitioners and learners to discuss how metropolitan areas can respond more effectively to the climate challenge.
The programme addresses both climate mitigation and adaptation through international experiences, local perspectives and collaborative working sessions. Particular attention will be given to governance and institutional coordination, spatial planning, water, energy and mobility systems, social vulnerability and community resilience.
By combining keynote sessions, panel discussions, thematic working groups and a field visit, the event aims to support the exchange of knowledge and practices while encouraging participants to develop shared perspectives on metropolitan climate action.
Programme at a glance
The programme will address key dimensions of climate action and sustainable development at the metropolitan scale, including:
DAY 1, 28 September
Exchange
Keynote sessions and international and local panel discussions exploring metropolitan governance, climate policy and climate adaptation.
DAY 2, 29 September
Co-create
Parallel thematic working groups addressing four interconnected dimensions of metropolitan climate action.
DAY 3, 30 September
Explore
Field visit to the Kadifekale Community Garden, connecting climate resilience with community-based urban agriculture and local action.
Keynote sessions
International case studies will complement the thematic lectures and provide opportunities to compare how different European metropolitan areas are responding to climate challenges through planning, policy and institutional innovation.
Experiences from Lisbon, Milan and İzmir, together with the Palermo metropolitan context, will connect broader climate objectives with concrete territorial challenges and practices.
Keynote session I
If metropolitan governance is the answer, what was the question?
Karsten Zimmermann
TU Dortmund University, Germany
Keynote session II
Addressing the climate challenge at metropolitan scale: from METREX learning to Helsinki’s climate change mitigation and adaptation approach
Alpo Tani
City of Helsinki, Finland
Panel sessions
The panel sessions will connect international metropolitan experiences with perspectives from the İzmir context, examining both climate policy and adaptation challenges.
Panel session I
Climate policy at the metropolitan scale: international perspective and case studies
- Roman Kizyma, Municipality of Lviv, Ukraine
- Jorge Brito, Metropolitan Region of Coimbra, Portugal
- Francesca Framba, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy
Moderated by Viviana Rubbo, METREX, Belgium
Panel session II
Climate adaptation strategies in İzmir: local experiences and challenges
- Nicel Saygın, İzmir Institute of Technology, Türkiye
- Ayşe Kalaycı, İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University, Türkiye
- Emine Duygu Kahraman, Dokuz Eylül University, Türkiye
Moderated by Deniz Özkut, İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University, Türkiye
Thematic working groups
The second day will be dedicated to parallel thematic working groups, creating a collaborative setting in which participants can exchange experiences, identify common challenges and develop shared perspectives around four dimensions of metropolitan climate action.
1. Climate risks & spatial planning
2. Water–Energy–Mobility adaptation
3. Social vulnerability & community resilience
4. Governance & institutional coordination
Participants will work within the same thematic group throughout the day before presenting the main outcomes of their discussions in a concluding session.
Exploring Kadifekale
The Kadifekale–Kemeraltı area provides an opportunity to explore the connections between urban regeneration, heritage, environmental resilience and community-based action. The wider Agora–Kemeraltı–Kadifekale axis is at the centre of İzmir’s long-term efforts to revitalise its historic urban core while preserving its cultural heritage and improving public spaces.
Kadifekale also illustrates how environmental risk and social policies can intersect in urban transformation. Areas exposed to landslide risk have undergone relocation, demolition and greening programmes, including the creation of a large urban forest.
More recently, the Kadifekale Community Garden (Mahalle Bostanı) has introduced community-based urban agriculture, providing local women with spaces for food production, social interaction and mutual support. The initiative has also become part of broader activities aimed at strengthening neighbourhood-level climate resilience.
On the third and final day, participants will visit the Kadifekale Community Garden to explore this experience of community-based urban agriculture and local climate resilience first-hand.
About İzmir
İzmir is a major metropolitan city on Türkiye’s Aegean coast, characterised by a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters.
The city has progressively integrated climate mitigation and adaptation into its metropolitan agenda through the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan and the Green City Action Plan, addressing areas including energy, mobility, water management, land use, biodiversity and climate resilience.
İzmir also participates in the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and continues to develop its climate action framework. Recent resilience initiatives have addressed climate-related risks including heatwaves, drought, flooding, sea-level rise and forest fires, while exploring adaptation measures at metropolitan, district and neighbourhood scales.
The venue – Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası
Tarihi Havagazı Fabrikası, the Historic Gasworks Factory, is one of İzmir’s landmark examples of industrial heritage. Construction of the gasworks began in 1862, during a period of rapid industrial development in the city, and the complex played an important role in İzmir’s urban infrastructure for more than a century.
Following the end of its industrial use, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality restored the registered buildings and transformed the site into a cultural and social venue. Reopened after restoration in 2008, the complex today accommodates exhibitions, workshops, cultural events and public gatherings, giving new life to an important part of the city’s industrial heritage.
Bringing together different perspectives
The workshop is designed to encourage exchange across institutional, disciplinary and geographical perspectives, connecting research with the practical challenges of metropolitan climate action.
- Metropolitan and local public officers
- Local and international stakeholders
- Researchers and practitioners
- Learners and emerging professionals
- Project partners
Participation is free of charge.
Hosted by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality
İzmir Metropolitan Municipality (İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi) brings to Cli-Met the perspective of a large metropolitan authority actively engaged in climate neutrality, clean energy, environmental sustainability and climate adaptation.
Within the project, the Municipality contributes practical knowledge from its ongoing climate and clean-energy initiatives and hosts the first Cli-Met Workshop with Stakeholders, providing an opportunity to connect international expertise with local policies, experiences and challenges.
Organisation
Local Organising Committee
Dr. Çağlar Tükel · Ahmet Dildan · Dr. Gülşah Ünsalan · Yiğit Beydağ · Nilgün Özmen · Aylin Cengiz
With support from the Cli-Met Project Team
Ignazio Vinci · João Igreja · Karsten Zimmermann · Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado · Çağlar Tükel · Cinzia Davoli · Peter Agh · Viviana Rubbo
Hosted by the Hosted by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.
