COP31 Heads to Antalya as SP Architects Repurposes EXPO 2016 Grounds

Türkiye will host COP31 in Antalya from November 9 to 20, on grounds originally built for a horticultural expo nine years ago. SP Architects is adapting the former EXPO 2016 site in the city's Aksu district to carry the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — then keep it working after the delegates fly home.

The governance arrangement is unusual. Türkiye hosts the summit and holds the presidency, while Australia leads the formal negotiations. It's a two-country job description for one conference. The event will gather national delegations, government representatives, scientists, businesses, and civil society to discuss emissions reduction, adaptation to climate impacts, and climate finance.

What happens on which day?

The World Leaders' Climate Action Summit runs November 11–12, bringing heads of state and government together on climate commitments and international cooperation. November 12 belongs to the built environment: a programme day on resilient cities covering climate-friendly buildings, urban resilience, disaster risk management, local governments, smart cities, nature-based solutions, mobility, infrastructure, and sustainable waste systems.

The timing is pointed. Those sessions unfold against the construction sector's environmental footprint — emissions from building operations and from producing construction materials. The industry will essentially sit in judgment of itself, in a venue built for it.

The wider thematic programme covers:

• Energy and transport
• Food and agriculture
• Climate finance
• The circular economy
• Protection of oceans and terrestrial ecosystems
• Zero waste and resilient cities, added to this year's agenda

How do you convert an expo into a summit?

The EXPO 2016 Antalya grounds — an international horticultural exhibition — already contained landscaped areas, exhibition facilities, and buildings dedicated to agriculture and biodiversity. SP Architects is layering renovations and new permanent and temporary structures onto that base, rather than starting from scratch.

The venue splits into two zones. The Blue Zone, managed by the UNFCCC, hosts formal negotiations and meetings for accredited participants. The Green Zone takes public events, exhibitions, and dialogue. Putting both on one site means coordinating circulation, security boundaries, and shared facilities — the unglamorous logistics that decide whether a summit functions.

According to SP Architects, the practice has led the project from concept through construction over the past year, working from an office established on site and coordinating with Türkiye's Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, the UNFCCC, and other stakeholders. The design uses modular and reusable building components, alongside measures for environmental control and operational efficiency.

What happens to the site afterwards?

After COP31 ends, the grounds are intended to host fairs, concerts, and other events, coordinated with Antalya's metropolitan and district municipalities. The plan extends the site beyond a single conference and builds on infrastructure already paid for by a previous large-scale event — a rare instance of a mega-event venue avoiding the post-closing scrapyard.

COP31 arrives after the climate-finance goal agreed at COP29 in Baku and COP30's advances on adaptation finance and just transition in Belém. Under the theme "From Dialogue to Consensus, From Consensus to Action," the Antalya conference aims to strengthen implementation of existing commitments, including those on urban resilience and sustainable development. How the built-environment day's talk converts into building codes and construction practice will be the measure that matters.