Design for sustainable cities

With ‘Design for Sustainable Cities’, we are specifically calling for submissions of design solutions for SDG 11* Sustainable Cities and Communities, focusing on one or more of the following three urban themes: Co-Created Cities; Sharing Cities; Safe and Sound Cities. While the focus of this competition is SDG11, no single SDG is the ultimate goal in terms of sustainability, nor is one goal more important than the other. Cities are part and parcel of all 17 SDGs. So, when addressing SDG11 you are also welcomed to think of the intersection with other SDGs.

The solutions to support Design for Sustainable Cities SDG11 must relate to one or more of the following three submission categories:

1. Co-created Cities:

The city is humankind’s greatest collective work of creativity. As such the city is co-creation par excellence. We come together in cities to meet, greet, exchange, and co-create. Cities are all important as fora for a critical mass of critical thinking and tangible solutions. As our urban challenges increase, we need to do our utmost to enhance and innovate how we interact, both in the physical and virtual world. We can go further in creating sustainable cities if we do so collectively. Collective action can better offer and accelerate value. Co-creation is the path to collective impact.

Keywords: co-created, co-design, value co-creation, collective impact, interactive, bridged services and facilities, user-centered design, service design

SDGs: SDG11 plus SDG13 Climate Action, SDG17 Partnership

2. Sharing Cities:

The city is based on co-existence, shared resources, on shared space, shared thinking, shared respect.

The sharing city goes beyond pure consumption. The sharing city is a city and society seeking to optimize resources, making the most of recycling, repurposing, retrofit, reuse of resources. The sharing city is regenerative. The sharing city is inclusive, striving to make room for everybody, striving for urban ecologies, striving for healthy balances between humankind, built environments, and natural environments. The sharing city is a caring city. The sharing city is also about sharing the intangible, sharing cultures, sharing insight and know-how, sharing responsibilities, sharing blood, sweat, and tears, sharing celebrations, sharing experiences happy, sad and sublime, sharing creative forces. This includes sharing designs. This is embracing open source. We are better when we do things together.

Keywords: resources, recycling, repurposing, retrofit, reuse, lifecycle, circularity, optimization, increase of the utilization

SDGs: SDG11 plus SDG12 Responsible Consumption

3. Safe and Sound Cities:

Safety, security, health, and well-being are at the crux of urban co-existence. The greatest individual concern is health and well-being. The greatest collective urban concern is public health and welfare. First and foremost, access to clean air and provision of fresh water (ref. access to freshwater is the Achilles heel of any and every city and settlement). There next food and shelter are vital for a sound city. Any infringement on our health and security directly impacts our levels of happiness and well-being. Our sense of security is certainly being put to the test with the current COVID-19 worldwide health crisis. Some are turning their backs on cities, seeing cities as problematic places to be. But urban density is not necessarily to blame for the pandemic. We confuse social distancing with physical distancing. We need to be creative about how to be together apart, how to sustain and foster social interaction while maintaining a safe distance. We need to adapt and adopt pre-cautionary practices so that we can safely co-exist in meaningful ways.

Solutions for safe and sound cities are more important than ever! To highlight this urgency, this competition includes the Safe City Prize.

Keywords: safety, security, health, well-being, happiness, trust, social distancing, physical distancing, nudging

SDGs: SDG11 plus SDG2 Zero Hunger, SDG3 Good Health, SDG6 Clean Water

INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM SUBMISSIONS

Students may enter as individuals or as part of a multidisciplinary team (there is no limit to the number of members in the team). Students are invited to submit up to 1 individual project. They can also submit 1 team project for a total of 2 projects entered in the competition.

MENTORSHIP AND COLLABORATION WITH EXTERNAL INSTITUTIONS AND/OR ORGANIZATIONS

Students and teams are encouraged to seek academic and professional mentorship/advisement.
Eligibility