With less than three weeks to WINGSForum 2014: The Power of Networks, we’re excited to learn more about this year’s host city of Istanbul, Turkey. Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) will co-host the event at the world-class Point Hotel in Istanbul from 27-29 March.

Urban Age is a worldwide investigation into the future of cities. This 2009 edition featuring Istanbul includes essays from local and international experts paired with extensive research on the social, economic and physical contours of the region’s major urban trends.

Essays frame global mobilities, the green economy and hinge cities, while a detailed focus on Istanbul brings its urban growth into perspective with global trends to reframe how one of Europe’s largest and most dynamic cities is understood.

From the forward (Ricky Burdett, Urban Age; Wolfgang Nowak, Alfred Herrhausen Society Deutsche Bank):

Cities have always been global nodes where people, cultures and goods intersect. More than any other of the Urban Age cities, Istanbul has performed this function for several thousand years: a global ‘hinge’ city that connects civilisations and continents. While it may not be growing at the dizzying pace of Mumbai or Shanghai, nor suffering from the widening social inequality and violence of São Paulo, Mexico City or Johannesburg, Istanbul faces many of the same challenges confronted by all Urban Age cities including London, Berlin and New York: economic stability, social cohesion and climate change. […] Bringing to a close the first cycle of the Urban Age, Istanbul appropriately marks the beginning of a new phase of urban exchange with the creation of LSE Cities.

Download the PDF here (please give time to load).

From 27-29 March, diverse actors from the world of philanthropy will converge on Istanbul for WINGSForum 2014: The Power of Networks to discuss emerging trends and other issues important to the sector. Follow on Twitter with #WFnetworks. Urban Age is organised by the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Alfred Herrhausen Society, the International Forum of Deutsche Bank.