In the course of the Symposium "The Future of the Informal" at the 4th International Rotterdam Architecture Biennale (NAI Rotterdam) the winners of the Squatcity-Urbaninform Competition have been announced today, 25th of September.
The winning projects and honorable mentions were selected by the Squatcity-Urbaninform Jury out of 60 entries in the categories: DESIGN (Space, Technology and Material), SOCIO-ECONOMICS (Participation and Empowerment) and POLITICS (Good Urban Governance).
The Jury was composed ;of members of the IABR curatorial team: Tim Rieniets (IABR), Fabienne Hoelzl (IABR), Can Altay (IABR-Refuge), Michelle Provoost (IABR-Makable Society), Georgeen Theodore (IABR-Community), Stephen Cairns (IABR-Reciprocity), Bart Goldhoorn (IABR-Collective) and Rainer Hehl (IABR-Squat).
The entry 'Manavasadhna Creche-Waste Recycling' from Yatin Pandya won first prize, with overwhelming acceptance.
The second prize was awarded to the Kounguey Design Initiative with their project 'Productive Public Space in Kibera Nairobi', and the third prize went to the Wilde Western group with their project 'The cook the farmer, their wife and their neighbor', Amsterdam. Both projects convinced the jury as strong design and community building initiatives to revitalize neighborhoods.
Because of its exemplary character, the curatorial team has decided to award a Honorable Mention to 'Rikea' by Antonio Scarponi and Marco Lampugnani and also to "MYC4 - eradicating poverty through business, Mille Kristine Klink/MYC4", although the project was not part of the competition.
The Squatcity-Urbaninform Competition went from February until end of May 2009 and helped collecting projects to kick off the Urbaninform platform. The Urbaninform Platform is a web-based network for best practices in the Informal City. Initiators are Rainer Hehl and Jörg Stollmann, curators of the section "Squat - The Informal City under Construction" of the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, IABR 2009.