ARCHITECT‘s Ayda Ayoubi shares that international design platform What Design Can Do and the IKEA Foundation have shortlisted 57 projects from 452 entries for this year’s Clean Energy Challenge, which focuses on site-specific issues in five major cities; waste management in Mexico City; transportation in São Paulo; food security in Nairobi, Kenya; clean urban landscape and beautification in Amsterdam; and buildings in New Delhi. This year, the annual competition brief called on designers, entrepreneurs, and students to “rethink how we produce, distribute, and use energy in metropolitan areas.”
Judged based on the criteria of “relevance, impact, feasibility, scalability, excitement, and commitment,” the finalists have until Feb. 10 to refine and improve their designs based on the selection committee’s feedback. On March 6, an international jury will then select 25 winners, which will compete to win “a production budget and a tailor-made acceleration program aimed at making the winning ideas, prototypes, or start-ups market and investment–ready,” according to the same brief.
Below are some of ARCHITECT’s favorite finalists related to architecture and planning for each of the five cities named in the Clean Energy Challenge:
