He was born in Bursa on September 14, 1938. He received his Master of Architecture degree from the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1961. After graduating, he started working at the Istanbul Municipality Planning Bureau, which was established by the then Mayor of Istanbul, Necdet Uğur. He also continued his duty as an Assistant Lecturer at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1964, he went to England for his second master's degree and worked as an architect for two years at the Greater London Council Architecture Department. He completed his master's degree, which he started in 1965 at the Urban Design Department of Liverpool University in 1967. He worked at the Liverpool City Council Planning Bureau between 1967-1968. When he returned to Turkey, he worked as an Urban Planner, Chief Assistant Specialist and Manager at the Ankara Metropolitan Area Master Plan Bureau between 1970-1981. He worked at the Nazım Plan Bureau until 1981, where he worked with President Haluk Alatan between 1975-1981 and served as Vice President. During this period, he undertook one of the management roles of the team that prepared the 1990 Ankara Nazım Plan.

He joined the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Technical University in 1981. He worked as a faculty member in the department for 24 years until his retirement. He received his doctorate degree from the Department of Urban Planning, Istanbul Technical University in 1994. He served as the Head of the METU Urban Planning Department between 1994-1997 and became an Associate Professor in 1996. He received many awards in urban plan competitions and carried out planning projects. He served as a consultant, jury member and expert witness in many roles.

He was the coordinator of the CRP 301-302 Planning Studio at the METU Urban and Regional Planning Department for 24 years. He designed the courses CRP 383 - Legal and Administrative Aspects of Planning and CRP 479 - Implementational Aspects of Urban Planning with Reference to Legal and Administrative Issues and taught these courses together with Feridun DUYGULUER. He worked on urban housing policies, new settlement areas and the legal and organizational structure of the city. He was one of the preparers of the 2015 Ankara Strategic Plan. He retired in October 2005 at the age of 67. He continued to contribute to the department part-time for a while. Özcan ALTABAN passed away on May 5, 2024 in Ankara (aged 86) due to illness.