BE OPEN and Cumulus announce the jury for "Design for Sustainable Cities" student competition in support of UN SDGs

LONDON, Jan. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Design for Sustainable Cities' is an international student competition held by BE OPEN and Cumulus in support of SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Its objective is to recognize and promote top design projects developed by the younger creative generation that are able to tackle the tasks set by the United Nations' SDG Programme.

The competition is open to students and graduates of all art, design, architecture and media disciplines of universities and colleges worldwide. Their top ideas, be it in an individual or a team submission can win the prizes ranging from €5,000 to €2,000 from BE OPEN, and enter the list of 50 honorary mentions to be featured in the competition's online gallery.

The honorary list and the winning submissions will be selected by an international jury panel that features designers, architects, academics and experts in the relevant fields whose work has a particular focus on researching non-conventional design approaches to the problems of humanity.

On behalf of BE OPEN, Founder Elena Baturina welcomes the jury members: "We are thrilled to have assembled such an extraordinary and diverse panel, and are deeply grateful for the time and expertise the jury are willing to share in the course of the competition. There is an exciting period ahead of us once the submission window is closed, full of hard work and amazing discoveries. I can't wait to see the top selection of the submissions our jury will decide upon".

BE OPEN and Cumulus are proud and happy to announce the jury members in the Design for Sustainable City competition:

• Luisa Collina, Chair of the Jury. PhD, Full Professor of Design, Dean of the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano and Rector's delegate for external relations of the University. Previously President of Cumulus, a member of the Scientific and Artistic Advisory Board (SAAB) of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture of Aalto University (Helsinki), Luisa coordinated several projects for the 150th anniversary of Politecnico di Milano and for the Universal Expo 2015, and was a member of the Scientific Committee for the XXI Triennale Internazionale held in Milan in 2016.
• Regitze Marianne Hess, Architect MAA, Professor of Practice in Urbanism. Regitze is an educator, writer, editor, and facilitator of knowledge exchange for various international fora on cities and the built environment, urban governance and design.
• José Allard, PhD, is a practicing Chilean designer, Associate Professor at Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, where he served as Director of the School of Design.
• Francisca Astaburuaga is Architect UC at London School of Economics; Director of the Centre of Innovation in Cities at Universidad del Desarrollo, chair of the Cities and Infrastructure Committee at the Council of Infrastructure Policies of Chile.
• Karl Stocker, Ph.D., Head of the Institute of Design & Communication at the FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria. Karl's most recent project is Designing Sustainable Cities. Manageable Approaches to Make Urban Spaces Better.
• Teresa Franqueira, Associate Professor at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Teresa is Director and Scientific Coordinator of the Design Factory Aveiro at the Creative Science Park with focus on social innovation, circular economy and alternative scenarios towards more sustainable economic and social models.
• Praveen Nahar is Director of National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad. With over 23 years of experience in design teaching, consultancy, and research, Nahar serves on the institute's Senate and Policy Planning Committee.
• Vrouyr Joubanian is a designer and design researcher, Head of Experimentation at the UNDP Lebanon's Accelerator Lab. Vrouyr works on context specific and socially conscious products and processes.
• Zhiyong Fu, Associate Professor of Information Art and Design Department, Academy of Arts and Design; Associate Dean of China-Italy Design Innovation Hub, Tsinghua University, China. Focuses his research on smart city, public service, urban regeneration and community construction.
• Robin Turner is a Johannesburg-based graphic and multimedia designer with a passion for digital solutions. Robin teaches at and heads the Graphic and Multimedia Design department at the Greenside Design Center. Robin specialises in physical computing.
• Thais Russomano, Prof. MD MSc PhD. Doctor Russomano has a Master's Degree in Aerospace Medicine; and a PhD in Space Physiology. Thais is an Elected Academician of the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine (IAASM), and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
• Michaël Demeyere, PhD, is head of the Design Team in the New Business Development department at AGC Glass Europe, a manufacturer of flat glass for the building and automotive industries. His work is focused on human-centric design, he is a member of a global project within AGC called "Smart and Sustainable Cities".

All the stakeholders in this international competition programme are positive that creativity, or design-thinking, is integral in the shift to sustainable existence.