Urban SOS: Distressed Cities, Creative Responses

We are in an urban age. Most of us today live in cities. Is there a place or a neighborhood in your city that needs a good fix? Do you know of an unplanned settlement, a displaced community, economic uncertainty that has driven away business, environmental degradation that has reduced quality of life, an area enduring the aftermath of natural calamity, a derelict urban site? Have a plan that could turn things around? The competition is open to submissions that solve these common urban problems, on any site, within any city or town, worldwide. If you’re passionate about improving the quality of the world’s communities, then this competition is for you. Today’s built environment needs creative, thoughtful ideas. If you have them, this is your chance to let them shine.

The Urban SOS: Distressed Cities, Creative Responses competition is open to individual students or teams of up to four undergraduate and graduate students at all levels from all countries in the design and planning fields – including landscape architecture, urban design, architecture, landscape urbanism, economics, planning, geography, engineering, environmental studies and related fields.

The competition offers $20,000(US) in prize money to encourage creative interventions that have potential for lasting improvement. The top four submissions will be invited to present at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain, in November 2009. To participate, students must register and provide statements of intent by 15 May 2009; final board submissions are due 31 July 2009.  www.edaw.com/urbansos

For the past 28 years, EDAW AECOM has guided students from around the world in a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach to real-world projects involving issues of regional or international significance in its Intern Program. This year, despite the difficult economic conditions where client sponsors are difficult to find, we are determined to maintain our relationships with academic institutions, and we have evolved the program into an international student competition called Urban SOS.