Dr. Ayşe Ege Yildirim is an urban planner specializing in heritage conservation and management, with twenty years of experience working in Turkey and internationally. She previously worked as Conservation Planner at KA.BA Architecture Ltd (Ankara, Turkey) and as Conservation Coordinator/ Heritage Planner at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (which later became the Abu Dhabi Tourism &
Culture Authority) (UAE). Her focus in recent years, notably in her PhD research, has been on governance aspects of conservation, as well as management of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Ege relocated to Istanbul in 2012, since then working as independent consultant/ academic. She was a Fall 2013 Research Fellow at Koç University’s Research Centre for Anatolian Civilizations. She is former secretary of the Turkish Conservation and Restoration Specialists Association, and has memberships in the ICOMOS Turkish National Committee, ICOMOS International Scientific Committee for Vernacular Architecture (CIAV) and the International Society of City and Regional Planners, among other NGOs. She currently advises the Municipality of Mudurnu (NW Turkey) on site management planning. Ege created the brand ‘A. Ege Yıldırım Heritage- Planning’, seeking to collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations and thus offering consultancy services, to achieve positive results in conservation and heritage management projects, and to create high quality editorial works disseminating knowledge in the field of cultural heritage. Specialties: urban conservation, heritage planning/ management, World Heritage sites, stakeholder relations, operating in multi-cultural environments, editorial work (English/Turkish)
