An academic study on Denizli’s municipal restaurants conducted by Alperen Akgül, a research assistant in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Pamukkale University’s Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, has opened the door to international collaboration in the field of urban public policy.
Dr. Marsha Smith, a researcher at the University of Nottingham who was seeking a field site for a public restaurant model planned for implementation in Nottingham, England, contacted Akgül regarding his study. Through the coordination and institutional facilitation provided by Research Assistants Dr. Onur Aycan and Alperen Akgül from our department, this international academic interest was transformed into a direct engagement and study process with the Denizli Metropolitan Municipality. As part of the visit organized through the initiatives of our academics, Dr. Marsha Smith traveled to Denizli and met with Mr. Bülent Nuri Çavuşoğlu, Mayor of Denizli Metropolitan Municipality, and Mr. İbrahim Doğan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BELTAŞ A.Ş., at their offices.
Research Assistant Dr. Onur Aycan and Research Assistant Alperen Akgül, who facilitated the meeting and were part of the delegation, presented the field dynamics of the Denizli model, its social municipal practices, and the model’s institutional operations to the international delegation. During the visit—in which the Denizli City Restaurant was evaluated as a model for a similar public restaurant planned to open in Nottingham—the adaptability of the project to conditions in the United Kingdom was discussed. We would like to thank the faculty members from our department who facilitated these meetings.
