Yarışmalar-Competitions

Safer Cities and Towns
Topic
The topic that the competition entries must respond to is “Safer Cities and Towns”.

UN-Habitat has set up a special Safer Cities Programme and is seeking IFLA’s assistance with this subject. Therefore ‘Safer Cities and Towns’ is the topic for this year’s IFLA/UNESCO student competition. It is hoped that the prize-winning designs can be part of IFLA’s representation to UN-Habitat and will inspire others with ideas about how landscape design can make towns and cities safer.

Laura Petrella, director of the Safer Cities Programme has provided the following stimulating brief:

“A cycle of decay is typical of urban environments when fear of crime takes root. Spontaneous reactions by the population, the moving out of investments and business, as well as difficulties for service delivery can all contribute to large parts of cities losing vitality, to ghettoisation and associated stigmatisation, and the decay of public space.

This cycle of decay is difficult to counteract without a determined effort tackling the various factors at play. Landscape design and management have key roles to play to show us approaches and tools to address insecurity and promote safety and peace in public space, be it park, public square, a cultural complex or other forms of public space. Sometimes solutions for some are a problem for many, and public space is the first victim of fear of crime and of the spontaneous responses it commands.

In our vision of a Safer City, public space is accessible, lively and safe; residents and visitors feel encouraged to deploy activities and different types of user find it possible to have access and make use of public space without undue restrictions and barriers. In a Safer City, conflicting uses and cultural or behavioural patterns are managed and integrated by careful design and planning, and by meticulous management and maintenance mechanisms.”

(For additional information and resources on the concept of ‘Safer Cities’ please refer to http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/safercities/ where linkages to other resources can be found.)

Cities can be made safer in direct ways by diminishing dangers arising from traffic, by pedestrianisation, by safe routes for children and cyclists, by the creation of a spatial structure for people. At the same time the human joy of risk taking needs to be recognised avoiding the trend towards repressive health and safety measures which can end up with the ‘nanny city’. Provision is needed for those who are disabled and also for the able bodied to exercise their full rights.

Safety can be interpreted as safety from crime, safety from injury by vehicles of all sorts, safe playgrounds and places for all ages to relax and play. Providing for safety can also mean creating places of challenge where young people can test their capacity to face danger and learn how to jump, balance or hang in the sky without endangering others or unduly putting themselves at risk.

Students are asked to submit projects which interpret the meaning of “Safer Cities and Towns” from any angle which stimulates their imagination. Think for instance about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s dictum: “In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.” (Essay on Prudence 1841), or British King George VI’s words in his Christmas broadcast in December 1939, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” Shakespeare wrote the words for Henry IV: “Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety”; can you propose landscape designs which will make towns and cities safer places?

Introduction
This competition is sponsored by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and is directed by the United Kingdom’s Landscape Institute.

The objective of the competition is to recognize superior environmental design achievements made by students in Landscape Architecture programs. The 42nd IFLA World Congress in Edinburgh aims to encourage achievement of the highest standards in landscape architecture education worldwide. The competition invites submissions from teams of students in Landscape Architecture programs or other allied disciplines.

Awards
1st Prize IFLA – UNESCO Prize for Landscape Architecture $3,500 US

2nd Prize IFLA Zvi Miller Prize $2,500 US

3rd Prize Merit Award $1,000 US

Prizes will be awarded considering the following criteria:

Effective investigation of the competition topic;

Illustration of best methods for improving the standards and practices of landscape architecture;

Evidence of reflection and concern for environmental, cultural, historical, and other contextual issues;

Integration of both practical and aesthetic aspects of landscape architecture.

Eligibility
The Competition is open to all students of Landscape Architecture. Both individual and group submissions will be accepted, and each student or group is permitted only one entry. Broad interdisciplinary submissions are welcomed, however, a landscape architecture student must lead the team of interdisciplinary students. The number of members in each participating group shall not exceed five (5). Collaborators and associates of members of the jury, and their relatives up to the third degree, may not enter the competition.

Closing date
All submissions must be received at the Landscape Institute (UK) by Friday 13 May 2005. Any submissions received after this date will not be eligible for the Competition.

Judges
The panel of judges will consist of five members, including a representative of UNESCO, and four other members representing IFLA.

Submission requirements
Entries must take the form of one panel of maximum size 90 x 120 cm, which shall be divided into four smaller (45 x 60) panels for mailing convenience. Drawings must be firmly mounted or drawn directly on light foamcore. Include on the back of one panel the directions for the order of mounting of multiple panels.

The panel(s) must include all project information. No additional material will be accepted. Any two-dimensional presentation media may be used to communicate the design intentions of the submission. Three-dimensional models will not be accepted. Electronic submissions will not be accepted.
Any other type of presentation (unmounted, three-dimensional, or mounted on materials other than lightweight foamcore) will be disqualified.

Legends, captions and all other text associated with the submission shall be in English

All work is to be submitted anonymously together with an opaque sealed envelope. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must not appear on the front or back of any board. The opaque envelope must be firmly sealed and shall contain the completed Student Declaration Form. As entries are received, serial numbers will be assigned, and entries shall be referred to by number to ensure anonymity during the judging.

Entrants must include digital copies of the entry panels, to be submitted in a CD-Rom. Please ensure that the quality of the images is high, as this will be used for publication purposes. Please label the CD with your name, school name and project title.

Ship to, and direct any questions regarding the competition, to: Marco Forgione, The Landscape Institute, 33 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 8QG, England. Tel:- +44 (0) 20 7299 4506, email:- [email protected]

Rules
Participation in the Competition implies unconditional acceptance of the Competition Rules. The competition Guidelines and Rules shall be issued to schools of landscape architecture through IFLA publications and The Landscape Institute (UK) website.

All Competition entries are the property of IFLA-Landscape Institute (UK). Entries will not be returned to the authors.

A selection of the works submitted by competition entrants will be placed on exhibition for the duration of the 42nd IFLA World Congress, Heriot-Watt University, (Riccarton Campus, Edinburgh, 27-28 June 2005) and may be also exhibited elsewhere or submitted to the UN-Habitat safer cities program at the discretion of the IFLA/Landscape Institute (UK) organizing committee.

IFLA-Landscape Institute (UK) retains the right of duplication and publication of any or all materials submitted to the Competition, and there shall be no obligation whatsoever to the entrants, beyond acknowledging the authorship of the works exhibited or published.

Submission packages received after the deadline date will not be admitted regardless of their postmark date.

All postage and delivery charges are the responsibility of the entrants. IFLA-Landscape Institute (UK) will not be responsible for customs or related fees. C.O.D. shipments will not be accepted.

All entrants are absolutely forbidden to have their submissions (or any part thereof) published in any way prior to July 1st 2005, thereafter entrants may publish their work independently.

The jury shall preside over the competition, and is the sole arbiter at all levels until the final attribution of prizes. All decisions of the jury are final.

The winner of the IFLA-UNESCO Prize for Landscape Architecture, the Zvi Miller Prize, and the Merit Award shall be announced by the IFLA President upon recommendation of the jury. Prizes will be presented at a ceremony on the evening of the 29th June 2005.

All disputes related to the competition that cannot be referred either to the work of the jury or to the attribution of prizes shall be settled through arbitration by the 42nd IFLA World Congress Executive Committee, who shall appoint an arbitration tribunal to settle any disputes.

Entrants are forbidden from requesting any information from members of the jury.

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