Banu Pekol

Banu Pekol, a 2020 Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) Fellow, is an independent senior advisor and built environment expert specializing in the intersection of human rights, spatial justice, and minority heritage protection. Utilizing a unique methodology that overlays conflict analysis onto the systemic destruction of cultural spaces, she advises international bodies on navigating contested environments and rights-based spatial challenges.

Banu’s pioneering research on conflict analysis methods applied to the destruction of minority heritage in Turkey, alongside her recent publications on the socio-spatial politics of the cemeteries of Berlin, highlights her ability to translate complex historical friction into actionable frameworks for future-facing community dialogue.

A former AHDA Fellow at Columbia University’s ISHR, Banu’s distinctive approach was recently recognized on the global stage when she was named a finalist—and the sole woman in the top three—for the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to Adequate Housing. As the only non-lawyer in the final shortlist, her candidacy championed a crucial paradigm shift: treating the built environment not merely as legal infrastructure, but as a critical, living vector for human dignity and identity rights.