London – The next chapter of Global Design Forum was unveiled on Wednesday evening at the Residence of the Turkish Ambassador in London, where cultural leaders, diplomats and members of the international design community gathered to mark the launch of Global Design Forum İstanbul.
Set to take place from 13–16 May 2026, the İstanbul edition signals an ambitious expansion of the Forum’s international footprint and positions the city as a key site for global design dialogue.
The new platform will bring together designers, architects, technologists, curators, academics and civic leaders for four days of talks, installations and citywide programming rooted in İstanbul’s cultural and architectural heritage. The programme aims to examine how design can respond to an increasingly interconnected and complex world shaped by coexistence, migration, technology and ecological urgency.
Speaking at the announcement, Ben Evans, Founder of London Design Festival and Global Design Forum, described the İstanbul edition as “an exciting new chapter” in the Forum’s mission to create a truly international platform for exchange.
“İstanbul’s unique position at the crossroads of cultures makes it an inspiring setting to explore how design can respond to global challenges while celebrating local identity,” Evans said. “We’re delighted to collaborate with People & Places & Ideas to bring the Forum’s spirit of creative exchange to this remarkable city.”
The İstanbul programme is developed in partnership with People & Places & Ideas (PPI), the creative industries platform founded by Melek Zeynep Bulut, who serves as Artistic Director of the new edition. Working alongside Evans, Bulut leads the overall creative direction and programming.
“İstanbul is a city that neither begins nor ends,” Bulut said. “It derives its singularity from the ways its fragments connect. We approached the Forum through this ‘in-between’ lens — focusing on relationships, flows and encounters.”
For 2026, the Forum will unfold under the curatorial theme Worlds in Contact, exploring what it means to design at a time when inherited frameworks for understanding the world are no longer sufficient. As societies face overlapping crises — from climate and migration to inequality and technological acceleration — the programme positions design not as a search for universality, but as a practice that embraces multiplicity.
The central Forum sessions will take place in a historic venue within the grounds of Topkapı Palace, where keynote talks, panel discussions and in-conversations will form the core of a two-day thought leadership programme.
Beatrice Galilee, Forum Content Advisor, said the line-up will foreground multiple perspectives rather than a single narrative.
“Istanbul, a city defined by contact and convergence, offers a powerful context for dialogue across cultures and disciplines,” she said.
Beyond the main sessions, the initiative extends across the city. İstanbullar: Design Route will map 40 key design and art works and notable locations, functioning as both archive and storytelling platform. A series of landmark public installations — produced locally in Türkiye — will animate sites including the Topkapı Palace complex, Taksim and the historic peninsula.
An international competition for a contemporary garden in the Yedikule region, to be announced at the Forum’s close, aims to engage future generations and embed long-term civic impact within the programme.
Organisers describe the İstanbul edition as part of a broader strategy encompassing cultural diplomacy, city branding and sector leadership. By convening local and international voices and commissioning public works, Global Design Forum İstanbul seeks to position the city as a global design capital while expanding the Forum’s reach beyond London.
The four-day programme will open with a gala dinner on 13 May, followed by two full days of Forum sessions and evening events on 14–15 May, concluding with shorter-format sessions and a closing brunch on 16 May.
Further details, including speakers and installation commissions, are expected in the coming months.