Designing for Health and Equity: Supporting Vulnerable Communities in the Post-Pandemic Age

The Epidemic Urbanism Initiative (EUI) tarafından, savunmasız topluluklar için sağlıklı mekanları teşvik eden kavramsal tasarım fikirleri oluşturmaya yönelik düzenlenen yarışmaya başvuru için son tarih 6 Eylül 2021. Dört kategoride düzenlenen yarışmada kısa listeye kalan projeler 1 Ekim 2021'de duyurulacak.

Mission statement

The goal of this design competition is to provide a setting for collaboration between students, teachers, designers, thinkers, architects, artists, and practitioners from a range of disciplines and fields in order to create and discuss conceptual design ideas that explicitly promote healthy places for vulnerable communities.

Description

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, like other epidemic illnesses and natural disasters that preceded it, has disproportionately affected vulnerable communities across the world including older adults, racial and ethnic minorities, and low income communities. The incidence of COVID-19, death rates due to the disease, and access to medical care were and are patterned along pre-existing social inequities and often aided by inequities in the built environments in which people live and work.

Recognizing the role that everyday built environments play as both primary places of vulnerability and exposure as well as resources for health promotion and intervention, there is an urgent need to rethink architecture, urban design, and the built environment toward more critical, just, and equitable solutions in the post-pandemic age. Undoubtedly, the cities, schools, homes, and spaces of recreation we inhabit will undergo large and small changes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as we anticipate the inevitable next epidemic or pandemic.

What might these changes look like? Or, more to the point, what should they look like? In other words, how might we use this time of rebuilding and rethinking to envision, design, and inhabit built settings that are more just and equitable? How might we re-center health in all design practices and processes?

This design competition seeks to address these questions by creating a venue to promote collaboration across global and disciplinary networks and by bringing together students, academics, and practitioners from across the world to imagine design solutions that:

• Deliberately center health, equity, and social justice in a range of different typologies and
• Foster resilience in anticipation of future outbreaks of epidemic illnesses and other natural disasters.

This design competition will seek submissions in four categories: senior housing, community clinics, neighborhood schools, and public parks. Each design category will be reviewed by three jurors consisting of faculty and professionals from various countries and disciplines. Shortlisted projects will be announced on October 1, 2021 and will be discussed by the jury and guest commentators in final review meetings for each topic on:

• Friday, October 8, 12-1pm US Eastern Time: Senior Housing
• Saturday, October 9, 12-1pm US Eastern Time: Community Clinics
• Friday, October 15, 12-1pm US Eastern Time: Neighborhood Schools
• Saturday, October 16, 12-1pm US Eastern Time: Public Parks

Schedule

• September 6: Submissions due to epidemicurbanism@gmail.com
• October 1: Announcement of shortlisted submissions
• October: Final review meetings with shortlisted groups, according to schedule in Part B above

Jury members

Confirmed jurors for each category are as follows:

Senior Housing

• Lead: Katarina Andjelkovic, Serbia
• Jury members: Lynne Dearborn, USA; Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, USA; Ruzica Bozovic, Singapore
• Commentator: Debajyoti Pati, USA

Community Clinics

• Lead: Louisa Iarocci, USA
• Jury members: Rolf Haarstad, USA; Andrea Möhn, The Netherlands; Lusi Morhayim, Israel
• Commentator: Thomas Fisher, USA

Neighborhood Schools

• Lead: Irene Hwang, USA
• Jury members: Melinda Silverman, South Africa; Stefanie Eberding, Germany; Claire Latane, USA

Public Parks

• Lead: Bud Shenefelt, USA
• Jury members: Renelle Sargent, Trinidad and Tobago; Anna Grichting, Switzerland; Johann (Hans) Sagan, Norway
• Commentator: Naomi Sachs, USA

Awards and recognition

1. Submission date: September 6.

2. Shortlisted submissions will be announced by October 1, 2021.

3. Recognition: All shortlisted teams will receive a certificate of honorable mention from The Epidemic Urbanism Initiative and will participate in their assigned review session on one of the following dates:

• Friday, October 8, 12-1pm EST: Senior Housing
• Saturday, October 9, 12-1pm EST: Community Clinics
• Friday, October 15, 12-1pm EST: Neighborhood Schools
• Saturday, October 16, 12-1pm EST: Public Parks

4. Awards: The winning team from each category will earn a prize of $500 USD, courtesy of the competition sponsor, CRGA Design.

More information can be found here.