29.02 > 01.03.2012, Palazzo Badoer, Venice. Istanbul. City Portrait is the fourth conference of a series entitled “Portrait of cities”, promoted by the Università Iuav di Venezia – Doctorate School and organized by its PhD students and doctors, the series, covering cities all over the world, will address the subject of urban complexity from a variety of viewpoints, which is the only way to understand the subject. The aim of the conferences is not so much to summarize processes that are too complex to be the object of a small number of considerations, but rather to provide keys to the interpretation of important aspects of our contemporary nature, and to the understanding of how this nature is presented within those urban phenomena that, more than anything else, characterize it. The conference will focus on cities that are particularly relevant for their historical importance and their present-day condition, and capital cities or metropolies in every continent. For each city the reasons for – and the components of – their diversity in a globalized world will be analyzed. Historians, urban planners, architects, experts in design or economics, photographers, etc. will participate in the conferences.