Students Reinventing Cities

Students Reinventing Cities now is over!

Students Reinventing Cities: C40 Cities, a global network of cities committed to bold climate action, recently has launched 'Students Reinventing Cities', a global competition for students to share their vision for green & thriving city neighbourhoods.

Short description

Reinventing Cities is a competition initiated by the C40 to stimulate ambitious carbon-neutral developments across the globe and to implement the best ideas to transform underutilized sites into beacons of sustainability and resilience and act as a showcase for future zero-carbon urban developments.

'Students Reinventing Cities' provides a unique opportunity for academics and students to collaborate with global cities. Together they will imagine a more sustainable and inclusive vision for cities everywhere, by rethinking how neighborhoods are planned and designed.

This competiton is dedicated to transforming cities in the face of the climate crisis by driving an active collaboration between cities and academia on climate action. The competition will inspire creative, innovative, and tangible ways to reduce carbon emissions, as well as to support a thriving and resilient life for local communities.

Students entering the competition will be given live projects to work on in cities including: Athens, Auckland, Barcelona, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Dakar, Delhi, Dubai, Madrid, Melbourne, Montréal, Paris, Quezon City, Quito, Reykjavík, Seattle and Washington D.C. They will submit their entries designed specifically for the urban area in their chosen city - to help change the way we live in cities for the benefit of our wellbeing and of the climate.

The competition will include two stages: the first will be the expression of interest phase, and the second, the proposal phase.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. The relevance of the project to the specifics of the site. The jury will assess the team’s understanding of site-specific challenges and the adequacy of their proposal with regards to the city’s goals and objectives as outlined in the SSR. They will specifically evaluate the relevance and quality of the program, including the uses and activities proposed for the site.

2. The solutions proposed to address the 10 challenges defined by organiser. The jury will assess the quality of the proposed solutions and their replicability across the city and the world. While the bidding teams are encouraged to address all the challenges, it is important for teams to emphasize the relevant challenges that are most relevant for the site, meaning the ones that will enable the City and the local neighborhoods to catalyze change towards decarbonized, sustainable and resilient urban development.

3. The suitability of the team. The jury will assess the coherence between the composition and the skills of the team and the nature of the project. The jury will also assess the experience and financial capability of the team to successfully implement the proposed project.

Winning projects will be announced on July 2021.

Who may enter?

This competition is open to all academics and students worldwide.