For the second year in a row, Montréal is taking part in the Street Design Challenge, and invites undergraduate students to form teams. This international university charrette, organized by UNESCO Creative Cities Network member cities Querétaro, Curitiba and Wuhan, will take place from October 28 to 30, 2023, and the theme is “Tactical Urbanism to Reduce Heat Islands in Cities.” Teams have until October 13 to register.
Street Design Challenge 2023
International Student Charrette
September 7, 2023
As a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network since 2006, Montréal has committed to making creativity and innovation in design an essential lever of sustainable urban development. As part of our strategy to achieve this, our team is focusing on cooperation and on expanding opportunities for the next generation, both locally and internationally.
The Street Design Challenge is a two-day event at which cities and their university communities are invited to put the transformative role of design into practice in adapting urban environments to the challenges of climate change. The focus of the 2023 competition is the concept of tactical urbanism as a means of designing solutions that will help reduce heat islands over the short term, while incorporating them into a long-term adaptation strategy.
For students, taking part in this charrette is an opportunity to engage in a concrete design exercise in an international context, as each Montréal team will be paired with another participating UNESCO City of Design to develop a proposal for improving the design of a street in that other city, adapted to its unique nature. At the same time, international teams will work on solutions for a street in Montréal.
How to take part
To enter the Street Design Challenge, put together a team after having read the concept note for this year’s charrette.
Each team must consist of 4 to 6 people enrolled in an undergraduate program at a Montréal university (e.g., bachelor’s degree in design, landscape architecture, urban planning or architecture) plus one or two professors who will mentor them. It is advisable to include people from different programs in the team to foster interdisciplinarity. Inter-university teams are also allowed.
Designate a person from the team to be responsible for communicating with the Bureau du design and the organizer cities throughout the process. Then, complete this form to register your team.
To make the exchanges among the participating teams and cities easier, the competition documentation, communications and proposals to be submitted will be in English.
Timeline
- Deadline for registration by university teams: October 13, 2023
- Optional briefing session for teams: October 27, 2023
- Start of charrette: October 28, 2023, 10 a.m. (Eastern Time)
- End of charrette: October 30, 2023, 10 a.m. (Eastern Time)
- Evaluation by the jury: November 1, 2023
- Announcement of the winning teams: December 2, 2023
- Exhibition of proposals in the organizer cities: Winter 2024
For more information
If you have any questions, please reach out to Emeric Boucher, commissioner at the Bureau du design, at emeric.boucher@montreal.ca; he will be happy to help you.
We also encourage you to read this brief summary of the 2022 Street Design Challenge to get an idea of what was achieved.
