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15-minute city 2022

Results

Foreword

The 15-Minute City concept is a way to make urban living less stressful and more sustainable. A 15-minute city has affordable, accessible and adaptable housing for households of all sizes and ages. It is easy to get goods and services, healthcare, fresh groceries, and all other amenities. People can work close to home or work remotely more often. Many major cities such as Paris, Melbourne, Detroit, Portland and Ottawa have been working on similar concepts.

This annual competition encourages designers and planners to re-imagine our urban landscapes as cleaner, safer, healthier and more inclusive places to live! Scroll down to see the best designs from all over the world.

Jury

Mikael Colville-Andersen
Mikael Colville-Andersen

Urban Design Expert
Author and Public Speaker
TV Host – The Life-Sized City
Coolville Design

Dr. Ally Lu Portrait
Dr. Ally Lu

Lecturer
Department of Urban
Studies & Planning
University of Sheffield

Dr Ashish Verma
Dr. Ashish Verma

Professor & Convenor
Sustainable Transportation Lab
Indian Institute of Science

Rowland Atkinson
Rowland Atkinson

Urban Sociologist & Author
Research Chair in Inclusive Societies University of Sheffield

Clotilde Imbert
Clotilde Imbert

Director, France
Copenhagenize Design Co.
Bicycle Urbanism by Design

Results in Media

15-MINUTE CITY | Urban Design Competition 2022

First Prize Winner

James Blythe-Brook  •  Louise Scannell  •  Loujayne Hadaya
United Kingdom
15MC-10382

Jury Comments

“While urban development is of utmost importance, I was thrilled to see a proposal focusing on refugees and the spaces we must design for them. A refugee facility is a small city and those who are forced to flee war and disaster should be afforded the same quality of urban life as the rest of us. The transferability of these places to a more permanent urban setting is also an added value.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen

“This project raised an important but often ignored urban design topic. The explanation of design issues and solution is clear and rational.” – Dr. Ally Lu

“Creative approaches to refugee camp conditions, invoking the need for greening, transportation and conditions that are not degrading. Application to displaced, refugee and slum settlements globally is very high. A human-focused proposal on an urgent issue. Hits very high scores on all criteria.” – Prof Rowland Atkinson

Second Prize Winner

Cheng Zhang  •  Yufan Ye  •  Minzheng Wang
China
15MC-9805

Jury Comments

“Proposal 9805 has a strong focus on transportation and logistics and the environmental impacts of urbanization. It presents a solid vision of what should be changed to be a 15-minutes city via the case study. The design strategy looks at how to add mixity and green spaces to existing single-function buildings and blocks. Transportation is separated to create more space for low carbon solutions like biking and walking at street level and trucks and logistics below ground. The proposal presents practical improvements to create more connectivity and simplify movement. More thought could have been given to governance and less to environmental impact, but overall the rethinking of streets and public space, neighbourhood mixity, mobility, and connectivity with the surrounding city make this a good 15-minute city proposal. The presentation includes multiple themes and is well articulated.” – Clotilde Imbert

“Clear fundamentals. The whole presentation of the idea is effective and targeted towards the 15-minute city concept with a clear focus on sustainability goals” – Dr. Ashish Verma

“Good design rationale and effective design solutions.” – Dr. Ally Lu

Third Prize Winner

Ashleigh Crofts  •  Paul Kalbfleisch
Canada
15MC-10147

Jury Comments

“The New 15 demonstrates a solid understanding of the urban fabric required for a 15-minute city. The design concentrates on creating positive experiences as you move about your day on foot. Walking through city streets with diverse functions and uses, spaces to interact, and art. We don’t have a lot of details on how this urban transformation will be achieved or how mobility and connectivity in the surrounding city will be addressed, two essential elements of the 15-minute city. The mixity and rich street-level urban fabric required for a 15-minute city are successfully presented, but elements about sustainability, inclusion, nature, mobility, and connectivity are missing. Presentation is clear and fun, but is very description oriented and would be stronger if it concentrated more on solutions.” – Clotilde Imbert

“Interesting presentation using dialogue to explain the design evolution. The overall layout of the poster is easy to follow.” – Dr. Ally Lu

“Beautiful presentation, offers the sense of a human-centred, creative and curiosity-inspired drive to create unique micro sites across the city fabric. ” – Prof Rowland Atkinson

Honourable Mention

Martyna Apczynska  •  Marta Winkler
Poland
15MC-9654

Jury Comments

“Many proposals feature the same building blocks but this one presents the vision simply and intuitively. There is an attractive human quality to the graphic design, presentation and ideas. We see too much overcomplication of the simplicity of creating 15-minute cities, so this is refreshing as well as practical.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen

“Clear presentation that is also detailed, applies itself to go head-on to the brief of creating a modular unit that can be aggregated into a wider, green-focused city.” – Prof Rowland Atkinson

Honourable Mention

Pavel Kosenkov
Uzbekistan
15MC-9830

Jury Comments

“The idea of providing an underground tunnel for motorized traffic could be counter-productive.” – Dr. Ashish Verma

“Beautiful diagrams depicting relative simple but effective design elements and refocusing of vernacular streetscapes and buildings. The key here is simplicity and adaptation with a focus on ecological concerns, in this case applied to Tashkent and its super-hot climate conditions.” – Prof Rowland Atkinson

Honourable Mention

Samriddhi Khare  •  Pranita Varma  •  Raunak Raj  •  Padmanabha G
India
15MC-10153

Jury Comments

“It’s a well-grounded submission with a clear focus on the basics of livable and 15-minute city.” – Dr. Ashish Verma

Honourable Mention

Fabiola Anahí Mogrovejo León
Netherlands
15MC-9829

Jury Comments

“Of all the entries, From a post-war to a post-car neighbourhood established the most comprehensive vision and strongest principles for all that a 15-minute city entails. The neighbourhood design went beyond land use and considered mobility and transportation, access to services and public spaces, connectivity, funding, collective management, social participation, community building, food, ecology and green spaces. This comprehensive approach is what makes this project so innovative, achieving the 15-minutes city through thoughtful planning and practical sustainable solutions, rather than gimmicky or flashy designs. From a post-war to a post-car neighbourhood’s complete neighbourhood vision responds perfectly to the criteria of a 15-minute city. Mobility and connectivity are essential elements. By eliminating vehicles to prioritize bikes and walking, then considering how the neighbourhood connects to the rest of the city through public transportation and main roads, this project stands out. The presentation is clear, visually attractive, direct and effectively communicates the main goals of the project.” – Clotilde Imbert

Honourable Mention

Jessica Huiting Zhao  •  Yufeng Liao
United States of America
15MC-10159

Jury Comments

“I liked to see a proposal that dared to tackle the American urban context and that did so with ideas as simple as they are bold. Great design and presentation with clearly presented ideas for tackling the issue.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen

Honourable Mention

Ahmed Medhat Elmaghraby
Egypt
15MC-10050

Jury Comments

“What pleased me the most is how this proposal draws clearly upon inspiration from preexisting urban fabric and context. 15-minute cities are nothing new so in my work, I seek to go back to the future and I am impressed when others do the same. The combination of inspiration from the past and modern solutions is cohesive and functional.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen

“The inspiration and idea are clearly explained.” – Dr. Ashish Verma

Honourable Mention

Amartya Kumbhakar  •  Diya Dutta  •  Mitra Mandakini Patnaik  •  Gayatri Swain
India
15MC-10183

Jury Comments

“At first glance, this proposal looked too busy and overcomplicated but after a deep dive, I was impressed with the attention to detail. Many aspects of urbanism were addressed and while some of them need tweaking and adjustment, this full package is comprehensive.” – Mikael Colville-Andersen

Honourable Mention

Yifei Wang  •  Danqiu Zhang
China
15MC-9618

Jury Comments

“It’s a well-researched submission, with clear logic and principles followed. They also understood the design brief well.” – Dr. Ashish Verma

Honourable Mention

Yushan Zhu  •  Fan Zhang
China
15MC-10120

Jury Comments

“The foundation of a livable city is well understood with innovative ideas of a 15-minute city.” – Dr. Ashish Verma

Honourable Mention

Farnaz Farshad  •  Mohammadmahdi Zanjanian • Negin Tavakkolian • 
Tannaz Zanganeh

Iran
15MC-9832

Shortlisted - TOP 30

Out of all the path-breaking works received for ’15 Minute City 2022′, only the choicest 30 could make it to the final round of evaluation. Hit the button below to explore the other shortlisted Top 30 thesis projects with exceptional concepts!

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