AECOM and Van Alen Institute, with 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, recently announced four finalists for Urban SOS® 2017: hOUR City, a global student ideas competition that challenged multidisciplinary teams to connect more people in regions around the world to the opportunities found in contemporary cities.
An “hour city” radius — the distance people can travel in one hour — has historically defined the boundary of a city. However, with the forces of globalization and dramatic geographic, social and economic shifts affecting cities everywhere, the time has come to imagine new ways to connect people in suburban, rural and isolated urban communities.
The four finalist proposals and teams are:
Alternative Ways of Transportation, Bangkok, Thailand
Submitted by Wilaiwan Prathumwong, Perada Plitponkarnpim and Patcharida Sricome, all from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, the team developed a new, formalized multimodal pathway along one of Bangkok's many underutilized canals, connecting isolated residential communities to public transit.
The Healthy City, Oakland, California
Submitted by Vincent Clement Agoe, Derek Lazo, Serena Lousich, Mark Wessels and Sarah Skenazy, all from the University of California, Berkeley, the team connects communities suffering from high rates of chronic diseases (e.g., asthma, diabetes, etc.) to the physical spaces and resources of healthcare providers, using traffic calming, recreational opportunities and new transit options.
The Holding Project, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Submitted by Sean Cullen and Chris Millar from Queen’s University Belfast, the team proposes a joint-housing and economic development plan in central Belfast, tailored to young renters aged 18-35. On publicly-owned vacant sites, the team envisions new pre-fabricated micro-units that would save construction time and costs; tenants would set aside 20 percent of their monthly rent as savings.
New Suburban Living, Melbourne, Australia
Submitted by Lisa Ann Garner from Universität Der Künste and Lauren Garner from RMIT University, the team developed designs and a planning process for new types of housing in Melbourne's Middle Suburbs to address the region's housing shortage and better meet the needs of residents.
Launched in May, hOUR City invited students to tackle urgent transportation, housing or economic development challenges facing cities around the world and to create outcomes that promote equal access to opportunity. 86 teams entered, comprising nearly 300 students from 31 countries around the world and representing 114 unique academic disciplines.
"In our competitions, research and public programs, Van Alen develops solutions to create more equitable cities and communities," said Van Alen Institute Executive Director David van der Leer. "We're proud to guide tomorrow'sleaders to tackle urgent questions about suburban density, creating more affordable housing and connecting underserved communities to transit and jobs."
“We are excited to see the progress of the four finalists in the coming months,” said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities. “The work of building urban resilience often requires regional thinking — and the solutions and approaches these teams will uncover have the potential to create significant impact.”
The four finalist teams will now work with experts at AECOM, Van Alen and 100 Resilient Cities to further develop their proposals, and will present their ideas in Los Angeles before a final jury and live audience on January 23, 2018.
The 2017 challenge is the eighth in the Urban SOS® student ideas competition series founded by AECOM, a premier, fully integrated global infrastructure firm, and the third challenge hosted in collaboration with Van Alen Institute, a design nonprofit with a 120-plus-year history of organizing competitions and with 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation.
Last year’s Urban SOS competition, Fair Share, challenged teams to combine design with the tools and technologies of the sharing economy to create more equitable access to resources, envision more sustainable built environments and enrich the lives of urban residents. The winning team, comprising students at Washington University in St. Louis, proposed reusing United States Postal Service (USPS) post offices in Los Angeles slated for closure and excess capacity within the USPS distribution network to collect, store and deliver surplus food to neighborhoods with limited food access. Team members include Irum Javed, Anu Samarajiva and Lanxi Zhang, students in public health, architecture/urban design and landscape architecture/urban design. The team is currently developing a pilot initiative to be implemented in Los Angeles later this year.
For more information about the finalists, including descriptions and images of the finalist proposals, click here.
Related Stories
Mixed-Use | Mar 11, 2023
Austin mixed-use development will provide two million sf of office, retail, and residential space
In Austin, Texas, the seven-building East Riverside Gateway complex will provide a mixed-use community next to the city’s planned Blue Line light rail, which will connect the Austin Bergstrom International Airport with downtown Austin. Planned and designed by Steinberg Hart, the development will include over 2 million sf of office, retail, and residential space, as well as amenities, such as a large park, that are intended to draw tech workers and young families.
Performing Arts Centers | Mar 9, 2023
Two performing arts centers expand New York’s cultural cachet
A performing arts center under construction and the adaptive reuse for another center emphasize flexibility.
Architects | Mar 9, 2023
HLW achieves Just 2.0 label for equity and social justice
Global architecture, design, and planning firm HLW has achieved The International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) Just 2.0 Label. The label was developed for organizations to evaluate themselves through a social justice and equity lens.
Architects | Mar 9, 2023
A. Eugene (Gene) Kohn, Co-Founder of Kohn Pedersen Fox, dies at 92
A. Eugene (Gene) Kohn, FAIA RIBA JIA, Co-founder of international architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, died today of cancer. He was 92.
Affordable Housing | Mar 8, 2023
7 affordable housing developments built near historic districts, community ties
While some new multifamily developments strive for modernity, others choose to retain historic aesthetics.
Architects | Mar 8, 2023
Is Zoom zapping your zip? Here are two strategies to help creative teams do their best work
Collaborating virtually requires a person to filter out the periphery of their field of vision and focus on the glow of the screen. Zoom fatigue is a well-documented result of our over-reliance on one method of communication to work. We need time for focus work but working in isolation limits creative outcomes and innovations that come from in-person collaboration, write GBBN's Eric Puryear, AIA, and Mandy Woltjer.
Building Team | Mar 8, 2023
Call for Speakers: BD+C’s 2023 Women in Residential + Commercial Construction Conference
The 2023 Women in Residential + Commercial Construction conference event will take place October 25-27 in Nashville, Tenn., and will bring together more than 300 women leaders from all facets of the $1.4 trillion U.S. residential and commercial constructing sector.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 8, 2023
Hoffmann Architects + Engineers receives Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from New York Landmarks Conservancy
Hoffmann Architects + Engineers, a design firm specializing in the rehabilitation of building exteriors, announces that the historic facade rehabilitation and window replacement at the 69th Regiment Armory has been selected for the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s prestigious recognition for outstanding preservation efforts.
Architects | Mar 7, 2023
David Chipperfield named 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate
Widely regarded as architecture's highest honor, the 2023 Pritzker Architecture Prize has been awarded to UK-based architect David Chipperfield. In honoring Chipperfield with the award, the Pritzker Prize jury cited the architect's "commitment to an architecture of understated but transformative civic presence and the definition—even through private commissions—of the public realm."
Multifamily Housing | Mar 7, 2023
Multifamily housing development in Chicago takes design inspiration from patchwork and quilting
HUB 32, a 65-unit multifamily housing development, will provide affordable housing and community amenities in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Brooks + Scarpa’s recently unveiled design takes inspiration from the American tradition of patchwork and quilting.