BEKAM continues its Focus Group Meetings series, in which it examines social issues in depth, under the title “Being a Family in the Metropolis.” The second session of the series will be held this evening (Tuesday, April 21) at 19:30 under the roof of the Bülbülzade Foundation.

The Science Education Culture Research Center (BEKAM), aiming to reinterpret the family institution—the cornerstone of social structure—in light of the dynamics of the modern age, continues its academic and intellectual field studies. Following the first session titled “The Family Institution: Conceptual Origins, Sacred Bonds, Common Roots,” held with the participation of Prof. Dr. Mahsum Aytepe and examining the place of the family within belief systems, tonight’s meeting shifts its focus to urban life. In the session, where the transformative effects of modern urban living on the family structure will be examined from a multidimensional perspective, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ayhan Koyuncu will deliver an in-depth presentation. Moderated by Enes Günaslan, the session will open for discussion the current challenges faced by families within the complex network of metropolitan ecosystems, sociological changes, and critical issues that will shape the social structure of the future.

URBAN LIFE AND CHANGING FAMILY TYPES

The session, to be held in the Bülbülzade Foundation Meeting Hall, will comprehensively analyze the evolution of the family within the physical and cultural boundaries of metropolitan life. It will discuss how the equation of space and poverty, alongside urbanization, directly affects family well-being, and will seek answers to how new communication models brought by the digital age and the global cultural industry transform intra-family bonds. The interaction between new family types emerging from individualization under the influence of modernism and the traditional structure will form the main discussion ground of tonight’s meeting. This study, which aims to analyze how the family can form a point of resilience within the chaos of the metropolis, will offer solutions for the future through BEKAM’s visionary perspective.

All outputs of the Focus Group Meetings, conducted meticulously throughout the year, will continue to be recorded. The data obtained from this session will be combined with other meetings in the series and will be published at the end of the year as the “BEKAM Focus Group Meetings Report,” to be presented for the benefit of the academic world and the public.