The Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Urban Research and Development Center (URDC) has been celebrating the 18th April ICOMOS International Day for Monuments and Sites every year since 2011 through various awareness activities and collaborations

On the International Day of Monuments and Sites, being held in 2023 under the theme 'Heritage Changes', an online panel was held in collaboration with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Sustainable Development Goals Working Group (SDGWG) between 17:00-19:00 on Tuesday, 18 April 2023. The panel hosted the following speakers: ICOMOS Nigeria National Committee member Dr. Tokie Laotan-Brown; Istanbul Technical University, Department of Architecture academic staff member and ICOMOS Turkish National Committee Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Eres, a Cardiff-Welsh School of Architecture researcher and Chair of the ICOMOS Jordan SDGWG Ms. Bayan El Faouri and URDC Central Executive Board Member and academic staff member of EMU Architecture Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ege Uluca Tümer.

Organized under the title of “Heritage Changes: Vernacular Settlements and Climate Action”, and under the moderation of EMU URDC Director Prof. Dr. Şebnem Hoşkara, answers were sought to the question "How can traditional knowledge inform innovative and transformative climate action?". The panelists delivered presentations evaluating the relationship between cultural heritage and climate through traditional and rural architecture examples from Jordan, Africa, Turkey, and Cyprus.