Urban Design Challenge 2023

Student Ideas Competition for the National Capital Region

Repairing the Urban Fabric to Create a More Vibrant Capital Core Area

Urban planning and design have the potential to dramatically transform our collective surroundings, influencing and enabling the way we use public spaces. The Urban Design Challenge is a competition that invites students from across the country to come up with design concepts for sites in the National Capital Region. 

The competition is open to students enrolled in an accredited educational institution in Canada. The National Capital Commission (NCC) encourages students to form interdisciplinary teams to consider all aspects of urban planning, site design, architecture, Indigenous planning, and landscape design. 

THE CHALLENGE  

This year’s competition will focus on repairing and re-stitching the urban fabric in the Core Area of the region. It will address vacant and under-utilized street lots where improvements from an urban design perspective can enhance the public experience.

Students are challenged to propose innovative planning and design ideas for the Sussex Drive Corridor, extending from the National Gallery of Canada to the grounds of Rideau Hall (Ottawa, Ontario).

PRIZES 

The winning project team will receive the first-place award of $750 and a trip to Ottawa, Canada’s Capital. The second-place award is $500 for the runner-up team. 

The winning team will be invited to present their ideas at a special awards presentation session of the NCC’s Capital Urbanism Lab on May 24, 2023. 

Questions and answers

February 21, 2023                        Last day to send questions

February 28, 2023                        Information session 

COMPETITION DETAILS: ncc-ccn.gc.ca/2023-challenge

Competition information in French: ccn-ncc.gc.ca/defi-2023

Confederation Boulevard lined with banner flags in the fall.

Aerial view of Sussex Drive with the National Gallery of Canada in the foreground. 

Aerial view of Sussex Drive North, depicting bridges, islands, and rivers.

The Canadian Geographic Society pavilion with red tulips in the foreground.

The Rideau River and the Canadian Geographic Society pavilion. 

The Rideau Falls on the Ottawa River. 

River shoreline view of Earnscliffe, the residence of the British High Commissioner in Canada, surrounded by evergreen trees.