Dr Derya Oktay (BArch, Gazi University, Turkey; MSc, Middle East Technical University, Turkey; PgDipUD, Oxford Brookes University, UK; PhD, Yildiz Technical University, Turkey, and Oxford Brookes University, UK) is an architect, urban designer, educator and scholar. She is currently a professor of architecture and urban design at the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Maltepe University, Istanbul. Her areas of research are sustainable urbanism and architecture, ecological and green design, architectural design in the local context, social-spatial aspects of housing environments, urban identity, public spaces, and quality of urban life. She has experience in both qualitative and empirical research funded by the EU, USAID, TUBITAK, and EMU. She has published widely, and her publications were recognized internationally. She spoken as an invited or keynote speaker at various national and international congresses and other international platforms in various countries across six continents. She is the new Editor-in-Chief of Ekistics and the New Habitat journal and serves on the editorial board of various leading international journals. She is the receiver of the WREN Pioneer Award 2021. She was ranked as one of the world?s top 2% scientists (overall) and top 1% scientists in the field of architecture/built environment and design (2020 and 2021) based on multidimensional impact research conducted at Stanford University, USA. She has developed and offered a range of courses with a primary focus on architectural design in the urban context, urban design theory and principles, contemporary approaches in urban design, sustainable urbanism and architecture, and public spaces, both at undergraduate and graduate levels, and has founded new undergraduate and graduate programmes at two universities. Additionally, she has served as a visiting scholar at several prestigious universities including the University of California-Berkeley, USA (1996), Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2002), the University of Michigan, USA (2005), Oxford Brookes University, UK (2009), and the Pratt Institute, New York, USA (2019).