Mezra Öner-Kara (she/her) works as a planner, researcher, and project advisor across the intersections of urban conflict, infrastructure, migration, and climate politics. She studied City and Regional Planning at Middle East Technical University (B.Sc., Ankara, Turkey) and Architecture at Mardin Artuklu University (M.Sc., Mardin, Turkey), where her work explored how spatial transformation in conflict regions connects to questions of governance, displacement, and ecological destruction.

Before focusing on research, she worked for nearly a decade in public institutions and international organizations including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the International Medical Corps, where she led projects funded by the European Union (EU), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Her work focused on urban infrastructure, migration and economic inclusion, and the design of green and climate-oriented development programs for municipalities and local NGOs in Turkey and northern Syria.

Alongside her professional practice, she has been engaged in feminist and rights-based initiatives, contributing to human rights and urban advocacy organizations since 2011. Her research and public work have been presented at the Istanbul Biennial, the Oslo Architecture Triennale, and the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, and several international exhibitions and conferences.

Her current research investigates infrastructures of extractivism and ecological resistance in Kurdish geographies, examining how post-conflict reconstruction and climate adaptation reshape territories and local life.