Opportunity Space

More than a million migrants entered Europe in 2015, setting off a vast and decentralized social experiment as local governments, nonprofits, businesses, and individuals improvise strategies to connect people to jobs, classes, housing, and to each other. Beyond the headlines and political rhetoric, the migration crisis in Europe has highlighted one of the toughest challenges that cities around the world will face for decades to come: In an era of great uncertainty, how and where can people find opportunity? In response to this challenge, Van Alen Institute, the City of Malmö, White Arkitekter, Architects Sweden, and Individuell Människohjälp today launched Opportunity Space: an international design-build competition to create temporary physical structures that will house programs to foster economic opportunity and social inclusion in Malmö, Sweden.

The winning team will receive a $10,000 prize and up to $25,000 to implement their proposal in and around Malmö’s Enskifteshagen Park.The winning proposal will bring new and established residents of Malmo together to produce a public space hub for education, job assistance, and social inclusion programs that benefit everyone in Malmö. The competition is the first in our new series of Flash Competitions: challenges that bring together multidisciplinary teams of designers and other experts for short, intense projects in cities around the world to take on urgent societal issues through design.

The deadline to pre-register is Monday, November 7, 2016. Final proposals must be uploaded using the submission link by 11:59 EST on Tuesday, November 18, 2016. Entrants will receive a confirmation that the files have been uploaded and should retain this confirmation.