Liminality, Transgression and Space Across the World (PDF)

Basak Tanulku is an urban sociologist who specialises in gated communities; she did her fieldwork in gated communities of Istanbul for her PhD Study at Lancaster University in the UK. While gated communities were regarded as exclusionary and segregating housing forms, Tanulku focused on various interactions inside and outside gated communities. As a result, Tanulku interpreted gated communities as housing forms using various forms of boundaries (physical and symbolic/abstract), which are in continuous flux and demonstrated that gated communities as relational, multiple and diverse housing forms. Since then, Tanulku has worked on different subjects, such as socio-spatial fragmentation, urban transformation and vacancy, urban gardens, alternative spaces and initiatives, urban protests and the conflicts emerging in public spaces and commons. More generally, Tanulku is interested in boundary-making and the interaction between space and people. Last, Tanulku works on the Lake District and Cumbria, particularly on the interaction between its natural and cultural elements and its culture and wild(er)ness.


Simone Pekelsma is in the final stages of her PhD at Radboud University. She has a great interest in translating her academic work to other worlds, including, for example, policy (i.e. Eurocities) and popular science (Geografie Magazine & Agora Magazine). Simone currently works for Utrecht University in a double role. She is a knowledge broker/business developer in human geography and spatial planning and the managing director of a research hub on the future of food.