The ISOCARP Award for Excellence (AfE) rewards plans in design phase as well as projects in progress or already implemented and is open to a wide range of professionals and institutions operating in the domain of urban and regional planning. Participants are invited to submit different tools used in planners’ daily practice: normative plans, strategic plans, urban projects, programmes, policies, research works, software, smart tools facilitating planners, etc. This prestigious award is bestowed in two categories: Grand Award and Merit Award.
In 2020, twelve eligible entries were submitted:
- Digital Twin of the City of Moscow, by E-Moscow and Moscow Department of Information Technologies, Russia;
- Development of a Common Spatial Data Infrastructure – Built Environment Application Platform – Feasibility Study, by ARUP and Planning Department, Hong Kong SAR Government
- Hangzhou Culture Wave City/Qian-Jiang New CBD, by OBERMEYER Engineering Consulting, Beijing, China;
- Calibration and application design method of recommended urban color system based on climate-adapted, by Guangzhou University and Guangzhou Hongyu Architectural Design, China;
- China’s First UN City Prosperity Initiative Project – Wuhan CPI Study, by Wuhan Land Use and Urban Spatial Planning Research Center (WLSP), China;
- Ecology First, Human Oriented, A Successful Practice in Urban Green Public Space Improvement – Conceptual Planning of the Wuhan East Lake Urban Ecological Green Heart, by Wuhan Land Use and Urban Spatial Planning Research Center (WLSP), China;
- From Rust Belt to Green City – Planning of the Green Development of Wuhan Industrial Transformation Area, by Wuhan Land Use and Urban Spatial Planning Research Center (WLSP), China;
- Public Participation in Nanjing Yuejianglou Community Planning – Supported by Digital Technology, by School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, China;
- Weihai Urban Design Intelligent Platform – From Design to Management, by School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, China;
- From DEPRESSIVE to IMPRESSIVE: the transformation and regeneration of Huaibei, a resource-exhausted city in China, Urban Planning and Design Institute, Southeast University, Nanjing, China;
- Rectreefying Bogor City 2030, by Nusantara Urban Advisory, Bogor, Indonesia;
- Wetland City of Batulicin: Transforming Urban Spatial Form, by Center for Urban and Regional Studies (PRPW) – University of Indonesia
The evaluation process was demanding due to a quality of entries and the diversity in terms: challenges and issues faced, themes and vision, environmental issues, and finally scale (from regional, metropolitan, to urban level). The jury composed of five experienced professional planners – Khaled Abdellatif (UAE), Abdelwehab Alwehab (Iraq), Pietro Elisei (Romania), Haris Piplaš (Switzerland), and Kate Holmquist (USA) as the jury president – bestowed two awards in the category Grand Award Winner, as well as two awards in the category Merit Award Winner, three of which in the domain of smart technology platforms, and one for a comprehensive urban plan.
We are thankful to all the submitters who clearly demonstrated how diverse, meaningful, challenging, and interesting the planning profession is, and how much our work can contribute for a better world. Therefore, we invite and hope for many more entries in the coming years. It is not a matter of scale, but of quality and eye-opening projects, which can serve as outstanding examples of contemporary planning practice.
2020 Grand Award for Excellence Winners:
Development of a Common Spatial Data Infrastructure – Built Environment Application Platform – Feasibility Study,
by ARUP and Planning Department, Hong Kong SAR Government
Proposing a smart city pilot through an innovative and integrated combined spatial data from the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure (CSDI) and analytical applications from the Built Environment Application Platform (BEAP), this project was funded by the Planning Department of Hong Kong SAR Government and led by ARUP, which recognises the need for leveraging technology to scale up response in a complex, rapidly-urbanising world amid global climate crises.
Allowing revolutionary integrated land-use, environmental, and subterranean infrastructure modelling and scenario planning, the Built Environment Application Platform demonstrates potential for having a game-changing effect on the divide that too often exists between long-range planning, development, and current planning. Of additional note was the exemplary performance in the category of public and stakeholder involvement, including engagement with critical multi-sectoral and cross-disciplinary building industry end-users such as planners, architects, engineers, and the public.
The centralised smart technology and application platform, the Built Environment Application Platform, propels spatial planning into the realm of systems-level territorial planning, making holistic planning of urban and natural systems and resilient urban solutions a reality.
Public Participation in Nanjing Yuejianglou Community Planning – Supported by Digital Technology,
by School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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Addressing two salient urban planning challenges — planning for aging populations, and participatory planning — Southeast University’s Yuejianglou Community Planning project serves as an exemplary model for leveraging powerful technology and big data in a way that is accessible to the public user, empowers the community, and elevates the public participation process. The Yuejianglou community in Nanjing, China, was invited to engage throughout the entirety of the planning and community development process – made possible through innovative use of digital technology.
Three phases of participation were carried out via smart technologies: a resident opinion app, an interactive design panel for programme design that included VR visualisation, and a platform facilitating participatory construction. While the reality of public participation is often one-dimensional, this approach achieved true interactive and iterative planning and design processes, and collaborative and meaningful implementation.
Of note is the high score achieved in the category of sustainability and replicability. The process considers formal and informal aspects of development, relevant to developed and lesser developed nations, and the harnessing of local knowledge and special attention to participatory construction lessens the reliance on large funding sources.
The project represents innovation in equitable planning methodology and addresses a critical aspect of sustainability and resilience: the resulting neighborhood courtyards support aging in community, community health, inter-generational social interaction, and involvement of older adults in shaping their community.
2020 Merit Award for Excellence Winners:
RECTREEFYING Bogor City, 2030,
by Nusantara Urban Advisory, Bogor, Indonesia
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The Merit Award is bestowed upon Nusantara Urban Advisory’s plan, RECTREEFYING Bogor City, 2030, for the integrity and cultural sensitivity of this comprehensive plan. The planning team pegged the plan for the Bogor City downtown district revitalisation to a critical sustainability goal, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and addressing the increasing impacts of the urban heat island effect on the urban environment.
The neighborhood-level progressive urban greening and cooling strategy not only incorporates green and blue infrastructure and low impact development strategies in a series of green corridors, but takes a human-centered approach that integrates a robust community engagement effort and economic development interventions that respond to community needs and informal economies. The project embraces the challenge of working within existing urban conditions, and balances feasibility and forward-thinking ideas to ensure long-term sustainability goals will be met.
Digital Twin of the City of Moscow,
by E-Moscow and City of Moscow Information Technologies Department, Moscow, Russia
Moscow’s Digital Twin platform is rethinking urban planning, providing open access to digital photogrammetric modeling, parametric design, and Building Information Modeling tools that make real-time visualisation and analysis possible within the City of Moscow.
This project – comprising a 3D map and database for the entire territory of New and Old Moscow – is leading the way in smart technology for local governments to take a more strategic and evidence-based approach to urban systems, including transportation planning, logistics, strategic optimisation of demolition and land debris clearing, and the administration of development processes.
The Merit Award honor is awarded for this project’s innovation in the replicable application of big data, representing real strides in the current planning sector.
We are thankful to all the submitters who clearly demonstrated how diverse, meaningful, challenging, and interesting the planning profession is, and how much our work can contribute for a better world. Therefore, we invite and hope for many more entries in the coming years. It is not a matter of scale, but of quality and eye-opening projects, which can serve as outstanding examples of contemporary planning practice.