# **The Bench on the Shore** _Marmara Urban Forum, 2025 Istanbul | Turkey_ Link: https://marmaraurbanforum.org/event/the-bench-on-the-shore-sparking-social-interaction-through-micro-interventions-52?l=en I developed this workshop for MARUF as a way of bringing my doctoral research into a professional and collective design setting. The workshop asked how public seating might move beyond simply accommodating co-presence and begin to support social interaction among strangers. ![[Screenshot 2026-08-14 at 18.27.39.png]] At the centre of the workshop was the card-based design method I developed during my PhD. Participants worked in small interdisciplinary groups to analyse existing seating elements in public space and generate “micro-intervention” concepts aimed at encouraging shared attention, encounter, and social connection. ![[Screenshot 2026-08-14 at 18.27.55.png]] What made this workshop especially important for me was the opportunity to observe how participants used the cards to develop concepts, interpret social interaction, and make design decisions in a professional context beyond student groups. This allowed me to better understand how the method was received, adapted, and discussed by participants from different backgrounds, including members of the design team from İSTON, a major Istanbul-based urban furniture and infrastructure company. For me, the workshop was valuable not only as a public-facing design activity, but also as a way of testing how research-based tools can operate in professional practice.