Until April 16, the 12th edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, organized by the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, is open for entries.
This honorary biennial competition, which since 2000 has acknowledged the best interventions in the creation, transformation and recovery of public space in European cities, will distinguish works carried out between 2022 and 2023 in its general category.
The Prize is the only one in Europe dedicated to public space and is awarded to both the project designers and developers. Its main purpose is to reflect the role that issues such as shortages, inequalities, mobility, migrations, or climate emergencies and the impact of new technologies have on the urban design of public space; and to be an observatory of good practices that propose solutions for a future in which cities will play a leading role in defining society’s evolution.
Exceptionally, this year the Prize incorporates Seafronts category, in response to the particular vulnerability of coastal cities to climate change. In the present-day context of the climate crisis, in which coastal cities are laboratories for rethinking the city and the way of inhabiting it in the face of the challenges posed by rising sea levels and extreme climate phenomena, this year the jury will evaluate works centring on the transformation, recovery or creation of seafronts carried out between 2019 and 2023.
The projects will be evaluated by an international jury of esteemed professionals. The president of this year’s jury is Beth Galí, a Barcelona-born architect, urban planner, landscape architect and industrial designer.
Both authors and developers can submit projects until April 16. Finalists in both categories will be announced on July 1. Presentations of the finalists in the Seafronts category will take place in September, and the finalists in the main category — on October 28 in Barcelona. The awards ceremony will take place on October 29, 2024.
So far, two projects from Latvia have been selected as finalists — the urban installation Mierīgi (Fine Young Urbanists, 2014) and the urban gardening project Gardens of Sporta pils (Artilērijas dārzi, 2021).
For more information on the competition, selection criteria and application, visit the European Prize for Urban Public Space website.
