Prizes: All applications

A community-inspired and led initiative of a 205 population village that weaves multi-stakeholder collaboration, cross-cultural perspectives, cross-disciplinary skills, and imagination into a concept design plan for transformation of a disused section of roadway into a beautiful gathering space and safe mobility path for all to enjoy. How awareness and creative thinking of a public asset can become a place for reconnection: to nature, each other, services, exercise, the arts, and the territory.

A flower bloomed in our Giardino degli Arcieri—and with it, a forgotten place came back to life. What was once abandoned is now a community-led urban garden and open-air venue. Through Arena Urbana we make it flourish with culture, social connection, art, participation and music—powered by km0 local food, zero-waste practices and low-impact, lightweight design. A living lab where beauty, sustainability and inclusion grow together.

When was the last time youth made true impact in your urban environment? Is youth participation a partnership or just consultancy? MC-YOU was an Erasmus+ project where Riga took the next step, creating a system of true urban impact with the help of Minecraft. During the project, youth teams were trained to co-design credible visions for public spaces, and the winner's vision is now being implemented. MC-YOU also resulted in the first fully vegan Children and youth engagement conference in Riga!

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The Small Town Biotope Vöcklabruck transforms a vacant historic building into an inclusive urban hub where business, culture, and social services thrive together. Around 80 people – including employees with disabilities – co-create a solidarity-based economic model in the heart of the city. With shared infrastructure, accessible design, and consumption-free spaces, it revitalises the town centre and strengthens local democracy, participation, and community life.

“Voci di Quartiere” is an engagement campaign by Urban Lab Torino, capturing residents’ views on everyday life, public spaces and services to inform Turin’s new Land Use Plan.

Compostable Altar is a biodesign project merging art, science, and regenerative agriculture. Created with an agroecological farm in southern Italy, it transforms agricultural waste into a large-scale 3D-printed biodegradable sculpture that returns nutrients to the soil. Using ecological sensors, parametric design, and AI models, it explores decomposition as regeneration, proposing a ritual of impermanence, reciprocity, and circular material culture.

The Bildung Climate School is a groundbreaking educational program that empowers young people to face sustainability challenges with resilience, creativity, and care. We bring together students from vocational, applied, and university education in an interdisciplinary learning community, combining science, hands-on skills, and personal development to prepare the next generation for a beautiful, inclusive and sustainable world.

SONE explores Mediterranean vine trellises as urban climate refuges rooted in the bioregion of Jerez. Solar radiation intensifies urban heat and also fuels vine biomass that is seasonally pruned and burned to feed communal fires during traditional zambomba celebrations. Ash from these fires glazes ceramic devices that first function as musical instruments and later protect newly planted vines, supporting canopies that provide public shade and street cooling (8–9°C on average; peaks up to 14°C).

San Facundo is turning water into a driver of local wellbeing and rural renewal. Through a community-led approach, the village protects its natural springs and river, treating drinking water without chemicals through ultraviolet light, and activates education, green jobs and responsible tourism linked to water and landscape. By combining heritage, environmental care and local innovation, San Facundo shows how small rural communities can turn a vital resource into opportunities for work and price