By the end of 2017, around 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced, about half of which were children.
Of this figure, over 25 million people escape to other countries, and as a result become refugees. Most refugees do not live in camps – forced displacement is now an urban phenomenon which creates a range of challenges.
To address this global challenge, the Cities and Refugee Student Design Competition was hosted by the Rapid Urbanisation Grand Challenge at UNSW Sydney, with Australian Red Cross, ARUP International Development, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the APRU – Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program Hub (APRU SCL).
The opening night of the APRU SCL Conference 2019 at UNSW Sydney featured a public keynote address from Brett Moore, Head of Shelter and Settlements at UNHCR. His talk titled “Cities & Refugees: Complexity and Conflict: how can we deliver inclusive and sustainable urban development in challenging contexts?” served as a prelude for the announcement of the competition winners.
Twenty-eight entries from fifteen economies took the challenge. We thank all judges for the incredibly difficult task of choosing the winners.
Prize winners
- 1st place (AUS$5000)
Merapatkan Selayang: A Bridging Intervention for Social Integration
Yale-NUS College
Lucy Madeline Davis, Sharan Kaur Sambhi, Ernest Tan Sze Shen, and Nguyen Ngoc Luu Ly
Physical Sciences (Chemistry), Anthropology, Urban Studies, and Urban Studies
- 2nd place (AUS$2500)
Welcome to the Agora
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux &
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg
Cécile Elbel & Ipek Erker
- 3rd place (AUS$1000)
Threshold Conditions
UNSW Sydney
Samuel Jones
Masters of Architecture
Honorable mentions
University of Auckland
Dennis Byun, Angela Lai, Harry Tse, Todd Min, Sungoh Choi, John Woo, Scott Ma, and Jingyuan Huang
Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) representing Portal Studio
Project title: Train-sition
Shahid Beheshti University
Solmaz Arzhangi, Sara Arzhangi, and Narges Rajaeipour
Post-disaster reconstruction in architecture and urban study, Master of Architectural engineering and Master of Architectural engineering
Project title: Towards a New Life
University of Technology Sydney
Allan Soo
Project title: Case Study: Sydney