The Main and Safe City Prizes Winners Selected in the SDGs-inspired international design competition by BE OPEN and Cumulus

LONDON, June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The jury of the "Design for Sustainable Cities" student competition, co-held by BE OPEN and Cumulus in support of the United Nations SDG Programme, have selected two of the four competition winners – the awardees of the Main Prize and the Safe City Prize.

We collected hundreds of submissions from students and graduates of all art, design, architecture and media universities worldwide. The competition aims to encourage creation of innovative solutions by younger creatives. The focus of the competition is the UN's SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Ban Ki-moon, the former United Nations Secretary-General stressed the importance of the SDGs by saying "We don't have plan B because there is no planet B."

The Main Prize of €5,000  went to the project with the highest score –'Renova' by Hacer Beril Beden, Politecnico di Milano. The solution consist in salvaging good conditioned materials through deconstruction and setting up a platform to bring them together with potential buyers, turning waste into resource. This project aims to design a sustainable business model for city regeneration.

The Safe City Prize of €2,000 went to Zhixiang Yang, Shandong University of Art & Design, China – 'Urban renewal design around Qilu Hospital'. The project offers a plan of renovation and redesign for the Qilu Hospital area, guided by the principles of urban renewal and historic protection; micro-introduction of 'big data', 'smart city' and community  management; as well as the 'sponge city ' technology. 

Founder of BE OPEN Elena Baturina congratulated the winners and thanked all the contestants for their hard work and creativity: "Design for Sustainable Cities" competition has been an incredible journey that has brought us to the most stunning results of dozens and dozens carefully researched, beautifully designed projects. I was glad to see how many contestants focused on the Safe City category, and developed solutions that may serve to relieve urban life in the time of pandemic – we hope such desperately needed ideas will inspire actual change very soon. Each of submissions has the best of humanity at heart, strives to make a real difference for us all, and therefore deserves to be applauded and celebrated in every possible way.  BE OPEN shall continue developing programmes aimed at supporting young creative talent worldwide."

On behalf of Cumulus, Eija Salmi, Secretary-General and Dr. Mariana Amatullo, President: "We are thrilled to celebrate the creative breath of the winning submissions of the Design for Sustainable Cities co-organized by BE OPEN and Cumulus. Cumulus has a long tradition of championing sustainable and responsible design. This competition was an opportunity to invite the next generation of design leaders among our member institutions—our students—to propose novel solutions for the future of our cities. We are deeply inspired by the excellence of the winning entries and their alignment with fulfilling the mission of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities."