AECOM, Van Alen Institute and 100 Resilient Cities challenge multidisciplinary teams to redefine the \u201chour city\u201d radius with infrastructure solutions that connect communities to opportunity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n LOS ANGELES (Jan. 25, 2018) \u2014 AECOM, a premier, fully integrated global infrastructure firm, and Van Alen Institute, with 100 Resilient Cities \u2014 Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, announced joint winners of the Urban SOS: h<\/em>OUR City competition, which challenged student teams to work across disciplines to bridge the divide between thriving urban centers and struggling communities.<\/p>\n The winning teams, The Holding Project and New Suburban Living, proposed solutions that would address urgent housing challenges in their respective cities.<\/p>\n \u201cRapidly changing household dynamics and exponential population growth are challenging our cities to accelerate supply and diversify housing options. This year\u2019s winning teams have proposed innovative solutions that have the power to spark new conversations around how we think about neighborhoods,\u201d said AECOM Senior Vice President and Global Director of Cities Stephen Engblom.<\/p>\n \u201cWith global housing inequality reaching new highs, students in this year\u2019s Urban SOS competition show how young people are eager to upset and rethink the systems that have historically held back housing development to connect more people to opportunity,\u201d said Van Alen Executive Director David van der Leer.<\/p>\n \u201cHousing affordability and availability is a crisis faced by scores of cities in our network, and is a challenge that is crying out for innovative, outside the box solutions,\u201d said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities \u2013 Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. \u201cEngaging the next generation of technical visionaries is critical in solving this challenge, and it is inspiring to see how these young people are addressing this problem head on.\u201d<\/p>\n Four finalist teams pitched their proposals to a jury of leading professionals from the design, government, business and media sectors at a live event in downtown Los Angeles on January 23. The jurors included:<\/p>\n AECOM\u2019s Executive Vice President and Global Sports Leader Bill Hanway emceed the event. The distance traveled in one hour has historically defined the boundary of a city, the reach of its infrastructure and its exchanges with surrounding areas. However, globalization and geographic, social, and economic shifts demand that we consider new ways to connect people in suburban, rural and isolated urban communities to opportunity. h<\/em>OUR City invited students to propose transportation, housing or economic development solutions that re-imagine this \u201chour city\u201d boundary.<\/p>\n AECOM first launched the Urban SOS series in 2009 to address global urban challenges, and for the last three years has partnered with Van Alen Institute, a design nonprofit with a 120-plus-year history of organizing design competitions research and public programs.<\/p>\n Student teams from more than 30 countries worldwide submitted proposals. Submissions were reviewed by prestigious panels of global experts from the public and private sectors through juries held in Hong Kong, Sydney, New York and London, with the final jury held in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n About AECOM About Van Alen Institute About 100 Resilient Cities \u2014 Pioneered by The Rockefeller<\/strong> Foundation \u00a0<\/em>Contacts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n AECOM<\/strong>: Van Alen Institute<\/strong>:\n
\nSubmitted by Sean Cullen and Chris Millar, Queen\u2019s University Belfast
\n<\/span>The team proposes a joint-housing and economic development model that creates affordable housing in the city center, and sets aside 20 percent of tenants\u2019 rent as savings. The team aims to improve the social mobility of the nearly 38,000 young people in need of social housing, and to help retain talented young people in Belfast.
\n<\/span><\/li>\n
\nSubmitted by Lauren Garner, RMIT University; Lisa Anne Garner, Universit\u00e4t Der K\u00fcnste
\n<\/span>The team proposes a new development model for Melbourne\u2019s Middle Suburbs to address the region\u2019s severe housing shortage and the need for more varied housing options for diverse households. The team introduces new city planning tools and architectural solutions that increase suburban density while simultaneously creating communal open spaces and essential services.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\nThe jury also awarded joint second place to the other finalist teams.<\/p>\n\n
\nSubmitted by Vincent Clement Agoe, Derek Lazo, Serena Lousich, Sarah Skenazy and Mark Wessels, University of California, Berkeley
\n<\/span>The team\u2019s project aims to connect communities suffering from high rates of chronic diseases to the physical spaces and resources of healthcare providers. The team establishes a series of \u201cloops\u201d that open healthcare campuses to local residents, and encourage people to seek out healthy food options, urban nature and active recreation.<\/span><\/li>\n
\nSubmitted by Perada Plitponkarnpim, Wilaiwan Prathumwong and Patcharida Sricome, King Mongkut\u2019s University of Technology Thonburi
\n<\/span>The team imagines a citywide multimodal path system alongside existing canals that could help alleviate the city\u2019s traffic congestion and connect people in transportation deserts to transit options. The team proposes to redesign the path along Bang Mod canal on the city\u2019s west side, introducing new lighting, bridges and public pavilions that provide spaces for local vendors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n<\/strong>AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organizations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure, to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital. A\u00a0Fortune 500<\/em>\u00a0firm, AECOM had revenue of approximately $18.2 billion during fiscal year 2017. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com<\/a> and @AECOM<\/a>.
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\n<\/strong>At Van Alen Institute, we believe design can transform cities, landscapes, and regions to improve people\u2019s lives. We collaborate with communities, scholars, policymakers, and professionals on local and global initiatives that rigorously investigate the most pressing social, cultural, and ecological challenges of tomorrow. Building on more than a century of experience, we develop cross disciplinary research, provocative public programs and inventive design competitions.
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\n<\/strong>100 Resilient Cities \u2014 Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) helps cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each member city who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a resilience strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges.
\nWebsite: www.100resilientcities.org
\n<\/a>Twitter: @100ResCities<\/p>\n
\nJason Marshall
\nDirector, Media Relations
\n1.646.432.8474
\njason.marshall@aecom.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSarah Haun
\nDirector of Communications
\n1.212.924.7000 x 12
\nshaun@vanalen.org<\/a><\/p>\n