I'm an editor, researcher, and designer based in London. I work on cultural, academic, commercial, and design projects, collaborating with magazines, design studios, and NGOs.

Besides being a freelance editor, I'm also working on an independent project called Mediterranean Commune, where I interview Mediterranean-rooted artists, diasporas, and migrant communities about their creative journeys. Additionally, I co-produce a digital magazine called Mediterranean Matters with a small editorial team.

Previously, I served as the Managing Editor of Parametric Architecture (2022-2024), a international architectural publication, and as the Art Editor of the Uyar Literature Journal (2020-2022), dedicated to the memory of the renowned Turkish poet Turgut Uyar. My writing and editing work spans diverse outlets, including Architizer, Protein Studios, DAC Swiss, XXI Architecture and Design Magazine, Aposto, Cosmopolitan and so on. I have also worked as a researcher with design practices such as So? Istanbul Architecture and Ideas, the Centre for Spatial Justice, Teen Readers Society, One Day Seyoum and among others.

My research focuses on critical thinking in architecture and urbanism, post-disaster design, placemaking, and spatial injustice. I hold an MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development (received in 2025), emphasising the political and social processes of urban design from a political economy perspective, particularly in cities in the Global South. Alongside this, part of my master's research turned toward environment and care, exploring more-than-human perspectives and policy, thinking about how design and urban processes account for non-human life and ecological relations, not just human ones. Additionally, I have a BSc in Urban Planning (2021) and a BA in Sociology (2022), where my thesis explored the political power of public space and examined how artistic practices, such as walking or a/r/tography, can enhance city design.

Interviews, Podcasts, and Documentations I Participated In

Interview – Bold Journey: “Meet Serra Utkum Ikiz,” March 2025

Short-form Documentary – 90+: Being Left-Handed: How Does One Become Left-Handed?
“Right-handers turn the pencil, left-handers turn the sharpener”

Podcast – Onarım Atölyesi (S3E23): How Can We Ask the Right Questions for Regeneration?

Interview – Rethinking The Future: Media Matters – In Conversation with Serra Utkum Ikiz