An open competition to develop a concept for a maximum capacity sustainable community or an urban subdivision to address shifts in global climate, that have been so vividly demonstrated by increasing numbers of flooding and drought catastrophes. The community must be “off the grid”, in other words as autonomous and self-sustaining as possible. And,
beyond this, we would like to invite you to propose ways of making the community a positive contributor to the natural ecology. Alternative energy solutions need to be fully researched and integrated to identify advantages and to be realistic about risks and disadvantages. Our premise is that the sustainable community should start to reverse environmental damage and not add to it.

Giving something back to the environment
The community can include new industries, which must be clean and considerate to the quality of life for future generations. We want to create healthy, vibrant, non-toxic communities with a positive relationship, respect and regard for nature and our natural resources.

Eligibility
The competition is open to any individual from any country. However, an entrant who is not an architect, must team up with an accredited (licensed or registered) architect from the locality of the submitted project. We also encourage participants to engage in teamwork with and between architects whether the entrant is a member of the general public, a writer, visionary,
movie maker, engineer, city planner, designer or from the construction industry at large. Each entry must name only one person as the representative of the work, who need not be the named architect.

Its Up to You
We have intentionally left the competition open to the imagination and strength of each entrant. We suggest that proposals should be based upon a small community of approximately 1,000 people up to the size of a small city or subdivision of 50,000. However, depending on individual strengths and ability to address problems beyond this recommendation, we are setting no outer limits to the scale or depth of each submitted vision. As a global community we will need to address many different kinds of problems in the environment, from flooding, to drought, intensified earthquakes and hurricanes, to toxins and to war ravaged areas. The competition entries themselves are intended to become a vast resource and inspiration for future planning and, with due respect for each author’s copyright, the organizers will work hard to support any idea or initiative to bring this resource to global attention. The winning entry will be based upon integrity, clarity, workability and strength of the submission. All submitted work will remain the copyright of its author/s while the judging panel shall have the right to publish and copy the material for uses consistent with the aim of promoting either the author or the work. In all such instances the name of the author/s in each case shall be clearly acknowledged.

Judging Criteria
The Competition judging criteria will include:
- the impact on the carrying capacity of nearby or distant natural resources, ecology and biomass 
-  the elimination of toxic building materials and the extent to which the proposals consume land or compromise other activities or communities.
- the ability of proposals to support the organic farming and healthy lifestyles, including swimming, cycling and walking where these can be locally sustained
- the intelligent planning of what the community produces, such as crops for multiple uses such as hemp (used for its nutritious oil, rope and fabric and is drought and insect resistant) and straw which can be baled for use as animal fodder or as a building material.
- the use of appropriate technologies to capture solar, wind and other ambient energies.
- the responsible management and recycling of waste or surplus material.
- innovative off-grid solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions that may provide new models for addressing Climate Change.

This is however, not a prescriptive competition, each set of ideas will considered on its own merits.

Panel of Judges
Includes Thom Mayne of Morphosis, Ken Yeang of Lewellyn-Davies Yeang, AIA President Elect RK Stewart, RIBA President - Elect Sunand Prasad and a delegate from each of our sponsors, Autodesk and our publisher Gibbs Smith.

Prizes
First Prize: 10.000 USD
Second Prize: 5.000 USD
Third Prize: 2.500 USD 
Bonus Prize: 5.000 USD - To be awarded to the entry that has demonstrated the most imaginative use of one or more Autodesk CAD BIM (Building Information Modeling) products such as Revit and Civil 3D.

Required Format for Entries
Illustrations and plans shall be presented on:
1. One or Two A2 sized boards
2. or Eight A4 boards
3. In addition four A4 pages maximum are allowed for text, diagrams and explanations; the following aspects shall be concisely covered:
a. What led the entrant/s to take an interest in the competition?
b. How the submitted proposals sustainably respond to the challenge of Global Warming.
c. How would the entrant/s go about realizing his or her concept?
d. Describe the three largest obstacles to achieving the concept.
e. Discuss how the concept could respond to different climatic and geographic circumstances.
4. The above shall be expanded in an auto-presented powerpoint of up to 30 images.