Dr. A. Ege Yildirim is an urban planner specializing in heritage conservation and management, with over 20 years of experience working in Turkey and internationally. Her interest areas include cultural heritage policy, advocacy and governance; UNESCO World Heritage; and sustainable development. Based in Istanbul since 2013, she is an independent consultant/ scholar.
Ege obtained her Bachelor in City Planning and Minor in Architectural Conservation at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1998; MA in Conservation at the University of York (1999) and PhD in Social Environmental Sciences, Ankara University (2012). She was a Fulbright Scholar at Pratt Institute (New York, 2006-07) and J.M. Kaplan Senior Fellow for Archaeological Site Management at Koç University (Istanbul, 2013-14).
She previously worked as urban planner at KA-BA Architecture Ltd, Ankara (2000-06); as Conservation Coordinator at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (2008-12); as Heritage Site Manager of the Historic Guild Town of Mudurnu, a UNESCO World Heritage candidate (2015-2020); and as Key Expert for Cultural Heritage in the EU-Turkey Anatolian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Institute project, Gaziantep (2019). Most recently, Ege served as the ICOMOS Focal Point for the Sustainable Development Goals for the term 2016-2020
A member of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISoCaRP) and board member of ICOMOS Turkey and Europa Nostra Turkey, Ege is currently coordinating the Sustainability Thematic Debate of the OurWorldHeritage Initiative, and supporting various clients including Cultural Agents (Boston), Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Salzburg Global Seminar.
See also: www.aegeyildirim,com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ege-yildirim-9a6240
