İkbal is an architect and an emerging architectural historian from Istanbul. She holds a B.Arch degree from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and a Master’s degree in the History of Architecture from Middle East Technical University (2023), where she is currently a Ph.D. candidate. She is a research/teaching assistant in the Department of Architecture at Gebze Technical University. Her research includes various socio-spatial investigations of Istanbul’s contemporary and historical burial topography, including the Byzantine, Ottoman, and the Turkish Republican periods. She is particularly interested in the active role of burial grounds in the urban development and modern transformation of cities.

Polat, F. İ. (2019) ‘State of cemeteries in Istanbul with regards to urban density’, in İ. İlter, (ed.)  Aura Istanbul Review, 1/2 134-149.

Polat, F. İ. (2023) ‘Death on the margin: an urban history of land walls cemeteries of Istanbul’, unpubl. Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University.

Polat, F. İ. (2023) ‘Shaping urban boundaries: the urban role of Istanbul’s extramural cemeteries in Byzantine and Ottoman periods,’ paper presented at The Association for Gravestone Studies Conference, University of Denver, CO, USA.