Student Competition on Urban Design 2023

As part of the celebration of the Day of the Mediterranean 2023, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is organising a student competition on Urban Design entitled “Urban Solutions to Climate Change in the Mediterranean”. Undergraduate/Graduate students in relevant Schools/Departments, based in any of the 43 UfM Member States can participate. However eligible proposals must be located in one UfM Member States around the Mediterranean (see below for details).

Urban Design solutions/proposals for all kinds of climatic challenges constitute the main subject of the competition – taking into account the following:

Mediterranean cities have a multi-layered structure. Socio-cultural, physical, economic, political, and technological dynamics are changing in the world, and cities appear as the main places where this change is reflected. It is possible to note that cities are made up of different contextual layers and these layers ground their original forms by overlapping, juxtaposing, and sometimes even in an intertwined way. The interaction of these dynamics rapidly changes and transforms not only the cities but also daily life, which results in a new urban space and new spatial practices.

Mediterranean cities, which will be among the worst hit by climate change, will have to be planned and designed to face sea-level rise, droughts, water scarcity, overheating, and urban heat-island effects. However, attending to their specific cultural and morphologic features, they will require ad hoc innovative solutions to adapt their built environment and urban heritage to the challenge of climate change.

Students fulfilling the requirements are welcome to propose solutions in a multi-scalar approach, responding to the challenges posed by climate change effects in Mediterranean cities and their built environment, addressing always the urban design scale. Proposals are expected to contribute to the achievement of SDGs and also to consider cultural, social, economic and environmental sustainability.

27th November: Awarding Ceremony in Barcelona