Burak Pak
Burak Pak is a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University Design for Circular Cities Program. He is a certified Circular Built Environment Specialist (CEI London). From 2009 to 2023, he served at the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture and continues to advise doctoral studies in corresponding fields. His professional focus lies on digital design and inclusive, participatory design, amassing over 20 years of expertise in spatial design, research, and education. He holds a PhD in Architecture from the ITU Faculty of Architecture co-supervised by Professor Omer Akin (Carnegie Mellon University) and Arzu Erdem (ITU). He has contributed seven years as a design consultant and research associate in the Information Technologies in Design Program at the Informatics Institute, Laboratory located at the Faculty of Architecture.
Burak Pak is the founder of the Brussels-based Altering Practices for Urban Inclusion Research Group, a collaborative that investigates networked learning, critical spatial practices, participatory learning, and social innovation in architectural and urban design. He has supervised numerous research projects funded by the European Commission, INNOVIRIS, and JPI-Urban Europe, and has published over 150 articles and books on these subjects. He has also served as a visiting faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and Texas A&M University, collaborating with key experts in computational design, visualization, and simulation.
In 2023, he completed the Artificial Intelligence Program at Oxford University and is currently engaged in the Strategic Business and Strategic Innovation Programs at Oxford University. He has also been recognized as an associate professor by the TR Interuniversity Board (ÜAK).
Address: Victoria, Australia
Burak Pak is the founder of the Brussels-based Altering Practices for Urban Inclusion Research Group, a collaborative that investigates networked learning, critical spatial practices, participatory learning, and social innovation in architectural and urban design. He has supervised numerous research projects funded by the European Commission, INNOVIRIS, and JPI-Urban Europe, and has published over 150 articles and books on these subjects. He has also served as a visiting faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and Texas A&M University, collaborating with key experts in computational design, visualization, and simulation.
In 2023, he completed the Artificial Intelligence Program at Oxford University and is currently engaged in the Strategic Business and Strategic Innovation Programs at Oxford University. He has also been recognized as an associate professor by the TR Interuniversity Board (ÜAK).
Address: Victoria, Australia
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Journal Papers by Burak Pak
2006
CSfS-D
Promotor :
person Pak Burak (+) - Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
Duration :
30/09/2015 - 30/09/2018
Project summary :
Today, one of the biggest challenges in architecture, urban design and planning of collective spaces is addressing the increasing socio-spatial complexity of the cities in Europe. This complexity is exemplified by the fragmented migration from multiple, foreign origins towards European cities and metropoles leading to an emerging condition called: 'super-diversity'. Coined by Vertovec (2007:p3), this term describes the diversification of diversity. It is a new condition of permanent increased, varied and fragmented pattern that can be detected in European cities. It surpasses the conventional way how interculturality and diversity are understood as it faces us with novel challenges (Meissner and Vertovec, 2015). The most evident challenge of all is the diversification of interests as a result of super-diversity. The diversification of the diversified needs of the society creates inter-cultural conflicts and makes it difficult for the urban design and planning practices to find a common ground to build upon. Furthermore, super-diversity creates diverse and novel forms of everyday life. As a result, tensions between the newcomers and the established population increase and give birth to new problems of coexistence. In order to address these challenges, we need novel approaches that enable the architects, urban designers and planners to understand the rapidly evolving demographics and needs of their citizens and engage them in the making processes. There is a need to develop novel ways of understanding, recognizing, representing and making collective spaces in super-diverse contexts. In this context, This research project focuses on making collective spaces for super-diversity. It aims to explore the following research questions: How can we make future collective spaces for super-diversity? How can we transform super-diverse conflicts and needs into fruitful design strategies? How can we redistribute the social and spatial infrastructures to accommodate inclusiveness and productivity? The research framework will employ three interactive processes to address the questions above: recognition, representation and redistribution (Fraser, 2008). Recognition will cover a triangulation of 1) Structured Individual Observations (diary, sketches, objects), 2) Data (Cases, Maps, Statistics), 3) Interviews with key actors. Exploratory representations will enable novel ways of seeing and have direct reflections on the research questions and links to the theoretical background. Redistribution will be closely linked to the recognition and representation processes and involve developing Design Strategies addressing the research questions and the translation of the strategies into a larger scale plan (macro level); Demonstration of the implications of the master plan at the architectural scale (meso level), construction principles and details, in close connection to the feedback of the building technologies courses (micro level). The area of study and intervention is Saint-Josse Municipality in Brussels. This municipality is officially the poorest and one the most super-diverse in the Brussels Capital Region and Flemish Brabant.
person Verbeke Johan (+) - Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
Co-promotor(s)
personLuyten Laurens (+) - Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
personPak Burak (+) - Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
person Lichtenberg Jos - Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Duration :
05/06/2015 - 05/06/2019
Doctorandus :
Vrouwe Ivo - Doctoral Programme in Architecture (Brussels) - Faculty of Architecture
Project summary : In this research, multiple teaching-learning situations are designed to support learner-centred education in the complexity and fluidity we experience in our surroundings today. Following contemporary developments in pedagogy, didactics and cognitive psychology, the study aims to support students and professionals in engaging in the higher-order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis. In contrast to the traditional deductive approach, where conceptual knowledge is transferred in a teacher-centred setup , the proposed learning situations aims at an inductive approach where knowledge is constructed by making and doing. In order to support the knowledge and skill, necessary to act in the different inductive teaching-learning situations, devices are designed. The teaching-learning devices, consist of an analysis-tool and a synthesis-strategy. Firstly the tool for problem analysis is introduced. By employing the tool, the student is assisted in the reduction of complex problems into multiple constituent aspects. In this 'divide-and-conquer' approach, the student is guided in the analysis of ill-defined problems and the construction of supporting knowledge in effective proportions. Secondly, a synthesis strategy is designed. By the application of this strategy, the student is assisted to assimilate constituent aspects, as discussed and evaluated in the problem analysis, into a holistic whole or design. In order to support an effective construction of conceptual knowledge in the act of making and doing, three teaching-learning situations are designed. In each of the teaching-learning situations, multiple knowledge dimensions are embedded in various sequences. By changing the order of the interactions provided in teaching and learning, the potential and effectiveness of the situations are tested and evaluated. The teaching-learning situations designed are suitable for a wide range of courses and situations. In order to test the designs, the context of construction education at universities for the Arts, Design and Architecture in Belgium and the Netherlands is chosen. By testing theories and concepts in this application, the study provides a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to supports the participant in the construction of robust competencies to act in the complexity and instability of today.
Promotor : Verbeke Johan (+)-Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
Co-promotor(s) Pak Burak (+)-Architecture, Campuses Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent (+)
Duration :
13/11/2014 - 13/11/2018
Doctorandus :
Van Reusel Hanne - Doctoral Programme in Architecture (Brussels) - Faculty of Architecture
Project summary : The PhD aims to gain more insight in processes of collective place-making in which communities imagine, explore and construct – manifest – the values they envision in the spatial reality, often in the margins of space and time. Starting from the background of participatory design and the Brussels context, the concept of performative urbanism is explored. Through this perspective the PhD is aimed to reveal the potential meaning of collective place-making processes in Brussel's spatial reality. As a design proposition it is argued that the proliferation of these collective processes, which both envision and act for a different socio-spatial reality, manifest a critical alternative for our city. To support this design both the concept and practice of performative urbanism are studied through an action research that takes part in the Incubators of Public Spaces project (JPI Urban Europe) which entails a living lab in the Brussels setting. The Incubators project is aimed to support these kind of self-organised place-making processes through the development of a co-creative software which targets to contribute to a more participatory urban planning. This tool is being developed and will be experimented through this action research as one of the three participating living labs. The action research focusses on the Josaphat site, a huge publically owned land that is awaiting it future development, where an amalgam of place-making processes are staged. These vary from art interventions, over an organically growing community garden, to the co-creation of a vision on the future development of the site. There are significant differences in scale and ambition, but all of these processes show to combine a vision on how the city could be organised differently with a focus on sustainable well-being and act to manifest these desired values in the spatial reality.
04/02/2009 - 04/02/2012
Project summary :
This project focuses on the design and development of a platform for the deliberation of the existing alternative urban development projects prepared for Brussels. The motivations for this study were:
1) The need for integrated planning environments for deliberation and participation due to the problematic urban situation in Brussels: During the last century, a combination of urban policies caused the destruction of architectural heritage and the nature of the city, with a compromising collaboration of the public sector (also known as Brusselization) (Lagrou 2003). This trauma created a protectionist attitude among the citizens and strangled large-scale developments. Potentials of alternative urban development projects as a reflective resource: Alternative urban development projects (AUDPs) simultaneously cover representations of the existing urban environment and imaginations of different realities. Thus they provide different frameworks for the discussion of the contemporary situation of the urban context (Pak and Kuhk 2009).
2) Potentials of Web 2.0: Web 2.0-based geographic technologies (GeoWeb 2.0) stand as strong alternatives to the traditional, linear, and hierarchical knowledge production methods. They are well positioned as a medium for facilitating dialogue and learning as well as communicative action (Roche et al. 2012; Hudson-Smith et al. 2009).
The research started with an in-depth review of the alternative approaches, AUDPs, and technological applications developed around the world. Based on this analysis, it lead to the creation of a conceptual design. Then, we two prototypes were implemented with two nongovernmental environmental organizations such as BRAL vzw, Groen Belgium and Jeunes Natuurlijk.
In parallel to these developments, a plethora of social technologies, tools and platforms have been developed to include a variety of stakeholders in the architectural design, urban design, planning and decision making processes. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding applications started to be widely used to tap into the wisdom of the crowd. Novel developments in parametric design and digital fabrication created possibilities for user participation in the making of customized and highly diversified products. With the combination of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things; smart buildings, autonomous devices, robots and software started to transform into agents and active participants. The attempts to harness collective human and artificial intelligence opened up new avenues for combining practice, research and education.
On the other hand, there is a growing concern over the possible negative impact of the digital devices, tools, platforms and agents integrated in the making of our buildings and cities, public, private and collective spaces. Examples of those are the potential exclusion of vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens, transfer of citizen power to the corporations, privatization of personal life and data, as well as spatial exclusion through increased technological control and surveillance.
In this context the main questions to be addressed in this conference are:
• What are the potential roles of emergent devices, platforms, agents and designers in the co-creation of spatial design products?
• How can we harness collective human and artificial intelligence in spatial design in an inclusive and ethical manner?
• What are the challenges of these practices and the future directions for addressing them?
Conference Tracks
Critical and Inclusive approaches to the Smart City, Co-creation Living Labs and Social Design
Design Democratization through Parametric Design and Fabrication
Co-creators: IoT, Buildings, Robots, Software Agents…
Teaching and Learning ICT-enabled Co-creation
Wisdom of the Crowd: Harnessing Collective Intelligence through Human-Computer Interaction
The New European Bauhaus: Co-creating a Future that is Sustainable, Inclusive and Beautiful for our Minds and Souls