She graduated from METU as an Urban Planner in 1989. She holds a master's degree in ‘Public Administration’ and a PhD in ‘Landscape Planning’. She conducted part of her doctoral thesis at Kassel University in Germany between 2011 and 2012.

 

Between 2019 and 2022, she completed her post-doctoral study as a guest researcher at the University of Kassel Faculty of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and Landscape Planning on the topic of ‘Creating a New Model for Interdisciplinary Spatial Planning Education’. In 2022, she taught the course ‘Interdisciplinary Planning Approaches in Environmental Management’ to master's and doctoral students at the same university.

 

In addition, her project titled ‘The Effect of the First Generation's Perception of Space on Integration from Guest to Host in 60 Years of German Migration’ was supported by the Kassel Municipality and the Kassel Foreigners' Assembly and was completed in 2023.

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After serving for 20 years as an urban planner and administrator in the public sector, she founded Ufuk Planlama in 2014, where she continues to carry out planning and zoning activities both nationally and internationally. She has prepared zoning plans for more than 300 settlements across Turkey. Between 2015 and 2016, she worked as a Senior Expert within the framework of the Regional Competitiveness Operational Programme, under the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology (as the managing authority and beneficiary), the Directorate General for EU and Foreign Affairs, and the EU Financial Programmes Department. In this role, she managed approximately 40 investment projects (within ESEP, affiliated with SIPU International, FCG International Ltd., and SPARK).​

 

Since 2024, she has also continued her academic career as a lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture at Ankara University.​

 

In June 2024, she established the Urban Forest Living Workshop, where she launched Turkey’s first Multidisciplinary Spatial Planning Education program, bringing together students from Urban and Regional Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Forestry Engineering departments.

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Dr. Nejla KILINÇ also serves as a volunteer mentor at the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV). In addition to her nine professional publications, she is the author of a memoir-essay book titled “Did Anyone Find the Exit?”, which reflects the emotional and intellectual atmosphere of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, her short story “Köprüden Gözlerim” ("My Eyes from the Bridge") was selected for publication in the “Spatial Narrative Story Competition” organized by the Union of Chambers of Turkish Cypriot Engineers and Architects (KTMMOB).​

 

She has delivered a TEDx talk titled “The Social Identity of Spaces: The Impact of Urban Planning on Society.” She participated as a speaker in the “My First Helmet” event organized by Yıldız Technical University Building Club (November 7, 2024) and served as a panelist in “The DNA of Cities: The Intersections and Roles of Disciplines”, as well as a masterclass speaker in “How Can Professions Escape Loneliness?” (November 8, 2024). She has presented papers at many national and international conferences, which have been published in proceedings books.

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She is a member of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU) and has participated in its education programs: “Let’s Build a Beautiful City” (INTBAU Netherlands) and “Traditional Architecture and Crafts” (INTBAU Belgium). She is also a member of the Chamber of City Planners (TMMOB).​

 

She has served as a principal jury member in the 15th National Landscape Architecture Awards Competition organized by the Chamber of Landscape Architects, and in the 24th Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Student Project Competition organized by Bilkent University.