On 21 March, Seoul (Republic of Korea), a UNESCO Creative City of Design, hosted the 3rd edition of its Human City Design Award, in collaboration with 3 other Creative Cities of Design: Singapore (Singapore), Nagoya (Japan) and Saint-Etienne (France).
The Human City Design Award celebrates designers, from all over the world, whose innovative and creative design work aims to solve complex problems of our daily life, by providing urban solutions and sustainable visions for the future. This year, ten participants, from Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Japan, China, Turkey, France and Republic of Korea, were granted the Honorable Mention Prize and subsequently competed for the Grand Prize, the Citizens’ Award and the Safety & Security Award.
The Grand Prize was attributed to “House of Dreams”, a project designed by “Insitu Project”, whose concept is to create a village community space by transforming an abandoned cave located in Dengfeng (Zhoushan), a city in South Central China, and recycling waste materials from the area. The project was named in memory of older generations who grew up in the cave, as well as individuals from 100 villages in the surrounding area participated in its elaboration.
The Safety & Security Award was given to the “Goyohan Taxi” project, intended to provide safety and facilitate communication between passengers with hearing impairment and taxi drivers.
Last but not least, the Citizens’ Award was granted to “Oozooro 1216”, a Korean architect company, for their creation of an after-school “hangout space” for adolescents, in Jeonju (Jeolla, The Republic of Korea).
Since its 1st edition, the Human City Design Award contributes to the mission and objectives of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network by encouraging designers to leverage their creativity to pursue environmentally conscious, sustainable design projects in urban areas. This event also stimulates conversation and promotes the exchange of best practices between professionals of the creative industries and local communities.
To discover more about the winners’ design projects, please visit the following link:
http://humancitydesignaward.or.kr/en
