Jennifer is an Istanbul-based freelancer writing about environmental, social and urban issues as well as arts, culture, food and travel.
Contested Spaces
Istanbul's long-running battles over public space and urban liveability have been thrown into sharp relief by a decade-and-a-half-long building boom that has shifted demographics and living habits.
Science, Interrupted
War and strife have uprooted many researchers. Can their life’s work be saved?
A Sweet Gig: Danish Beekeeping Program Employs Refugees
By operating urban beehives year-round, Bybi helps the environment, gives training, and creates opportunity.
An Archaeology of Design
The 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial is fascinating but often perplexing, more interested in questions than answers, and in the past than the future.
Turkey ploughs on with controversial €1.2 billion dam project
A controversial €1.2 billion dam project threatens to displace tens of thousands of people across the Tigris Valley and submerge 12,000 years of history in Hasankeyf.
The Olive and the Power Plant
Turkey's rush to build coal plants comes at the expense of its most beloved culinary ingredient.
The Secrets Beneath a Suburb
Experts are uncovering millennia of history under a Turkish megacity’s outskirts.
A Bowl Full of Hope
Soup-delivery project brings together three disadvantaged groups often ignored in Turkey’s largest city
Centuries-Old Gardens Are the Latest Battleground in Istanbul
The ongoing debate raises bigger questions about who benefits from the city's changing landscape....
Dammed, dirty, drained by war: can Iraq's Tigris River be restored?
Nature Iraq wants to restore the Tigris, which contributed to the birth of agriculture about 7,000 years ago, to its free-flowing, clean former self. The environmental group is swimming upstream.
Turkey’s Building Boom Takes Toll on Worker Safety
Turkey's construction sector, a key driver of the country's economy as it boomed over much of the last decade, is perilous for workers.
Underground Transit Projects Reveal Secrets Buried Beneath Cities
Subway construction offers archaeologists rare opportunities to dig into historic urban centers — but with the clock ticking.
Violence, Tear Gas Greet Protests to Save One of the Last Public Parks in Istanbul
The battle over Gezi Park has become a symbol of opposition to the city's massive urban upheaval....
Why DIY Public Spaces Are Starting to Take Off in Turkey
"We felt a real hunger in Istanbul for projects that are bottom-up."
What Happened to Turkey's Ancient Utopia?
Turkey’s Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük may have been an orderly society built on tolerance and equality — until it fell apart.