Ceren Sezer is an architect and urban planner, currently leading a Junior Research Group at RWTH Aachen University’s Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism. She holds a B.A. in Architecture from Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye, and both a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Urbanism from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Ceren has been awarded German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grants twice, supporting her work as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Visiting Professor at RWTH Aachen University. Her research focuses on the intersection of urban form, sustainable urban transformations, social inclusion, spatial justice, and the liveability of public spaces. Currently, she leads a project on decarbonisation strategies for university campuses, emphasising innovative, evidence-based, and community-centered placemaking approaches. The project aims to transform campuses into positive energy districts, enhancing both climate resilience and liveability. It is funded under the Germany University of Excellence Network and supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW), running from January 2024 to 2029.
Ceren is the co-editor of Marketplaces: Movements, Representations, Practices (2023), Public Space and Urban Justice (2017), and Marketplaces as an Urban Development Strategy (2013). She is also the author of Visibility, Democratic Public Space, and Socially Inclusive Cities (2020). Additionally, she is a co-founder and former coordinator of the international research group Public Spaces and Urban Cultures under the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP). Ceren actively participates in the IDEA League Sustainable Campus Working Group, collaborating with sustainability coordinators from RWTH Aachen, TU Delft, ETH Zurich, Politecnico di Milano, and Chalmers University of Technology. Her co-curated exhibition, Climate Wunderkammer, was featured at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, The Laboratory of the Future, curated by Lesley Lokko and organised by La Biennale di Venezia in 2023. She has been an invited speaker at international institutions, including the National University of Singapore, ETH Future Cities Laboratory, Cardiff University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the University of Poitiers, the University of Amsterdam, and Ilia State University in Georgia.