In 2022, a high number of 25 SA entries covering various aspects related to the broad field of spatial and urban planning were submitted:

1. Role of Web-Based Networking Platforms as a Participatory Tool in Planning, by Ishita Saraswat
2. New central street -an inclusive community: Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, by Cheng Zixuan
3. Çatalca Urban Development Plan, by Ebru Hanna Balik
4. Democracy in the Public Spaces, by Saheli Gosh 
5. Spirit of Place: exploring spatial manifestation of culture to root identity of a transforming town, by Azna Parveen
6. Urban continuity as a means of socio-economic inclusion in developing cities: A case of Hubli, Karnataka, by Sahana Malagatti 
7. The Bioagricorridors project: Agroecological frameworks for the Barcelona city transition toward Biocity, by Filippo Vegezzi
8. An Inquiry Iito Children’s Sense of Place in City Neighbourhoods: The Case of Ankara, by Ecem Erol
9. The 15-minute city: the influence of a sustainable neighbourhood-based proximity on subjective well-being, by Clara Sankari
10. Making cities Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable through the capacity of Participation: Case of Farrukhnagar, Gurgaon, an outskirt town of New Delhi, by Rohit Raj
11. Designing a Soundscape in RWTH University Campus, by Enes Kaç and Beyza Görgüç
12. Towards Symbiosis: Nature-based Solution to Achieve Carbon Neutrality in Brunico, Alps, by Xiaohan Liu, Liren Wang, Jiamin Liu, Ruiting Lyu, and Dilip Pareek 
13. Enriching the Urban Food Strategies through Participation – “Tasteful City” Game, by Nida Bilgen and Gökçe Demiral
14. Track pH, by Yasemen Akca et al.
15. Romanian shrinking cities: A tale of post-socialist urbanity in the city of Victoria, by Larisa Petrescu
16. Revitalisation of Temple Towns in Kerala – A case of Thrissur, by Varsha Vinod
17. The Northern Kediri Collaboration, by Muhammad Murtadho
18. Networking Commons for Urban Resurgence: A Case for Bhalswa, Delhi, by Ipsita Choudhury
19. ‘LA VIE EST LÀ’: Transforming the role of HUB through regulating mobility, case of Hangzhou South Railway Station in China, by Haocheng Sun and Jiyao Cai
20. Planning for disaster risk reduction for occurrence of lightning in Balasore, Odisha, by Ahwaan Nayak
21. Ecoturism and Healthy City, by Amparo Sanchez
22. Re-Focus: Fostering green connections to re-imagine shared public spaces, by Anukrati Sharma
23. Informal Urban sprawl and informal mobility, by Mohamed ElGohary
24. Shelter for Girls: Case Study of Iraq, by Klaudia Wolanin
25. Re-imagining resilience in the conflict between nature and the built environment: the case of Majuli, a disappearing island of India, by Sreetama Pal

The jury composed of two young planners, an experienced ISOCARP member, a Board member and a Scientific Committee member, i.e., Tjark Gall (France) and Divya Chopra (India) as YPPs, Tianren Yang (Hong Kong, China), Zeynep Gunay (Turkey) as the Board member, and Nasim Iranmanesh (Iran), the SC member, elected the following entries as the winners:

Xiaohan Liu, Liren Wang, Jiamin Liu, Ruiting Lyu, and Dilip Pareek, Towards Symbiosis: Nature-based Solution to Achieve Carbon Neutrality in Brunico, Alps

The proposal adopts a systemic approach toward addressing one of the biggest environmental challenges – climate change. The approach applied portrays a high level of understanding of the topic, a sound analysis across the territorial scales, and visually appealing maps and conceptual diagrams. The proposed actions are adequate in response to the identified challenge and cover a range of interesting topics (e.g., energy production, mobility management, etc.). More precisely, to develop carbon-neutral ecosystems, the proposal offers five key strategies: Rotate Procedure, Forest Metabolism, Wooden & Straw Products, Local lifestyle, and Energy usage. Finally, with the project site based in the Alps, as an ‘Ecological Reservoir’, the proposed scheme demonstrates a way forward to achieve net-zero emissions balance using a methodology to project carbon emissions in a phased manner by 2050.

Nida Bilgen and Gökçe Demiral, Enriching the Urban Food Strategies through Participation – “Tasteful City” Game

The idea of “Tasteful City” pinpoints the relationship between culture and city development in Hasselt. It addresses challenges of collaboration and engagement between stakeholders in the context of culture with a focus on culinary – a key ingredient for the identity of many cities and its habitants. The proposed gamified method, i.e., a collaborative idea generation game, appears interesting, well thought through, and with a potential to find new ways to engage different urban actors. Rich in attractive and high-quality visual style, the entry is convincing in its coherent proposition that combines a relevant challenge with a sound method and an innovative response. Hence, it can serve as a useful prototype tool for public participation and proposal development in the local context.

Anukrati Sharma, Re-Focus: Fostering green connections to re-imagine shared public spaces

The project tackles the well-elaborated topic of green infrastructure in cities, however, innovatively proposing joint activities of public and private sectors, with the ultimate aim of creating and maintaining social equity. This reads a particularly relevant goal in highly populated cities as Ahmedabad, India, which streets are re-imagined as arteries of life capable to respond to anticipated high growth. 

Haocheng Sun and Jiyao Cai, ‘LA VIE EST LÀ’: Transforming the role of HUB through regulating mobility, case of Hangzhou South Railway Station in China 

The project critically addresses the notion of mobility in the metropolitan area of Hangzhou as a testbed to explore different strategies for making the hub ‘an engine of vitality’. In doing so, the project proposes integration of transport, commercial and business functions, coupled with boosting personal mobility, hence making hubs the ‘urban living rooms’. Focusing on a detailed, small-scale intervention, the proposal is convincing in providing a range of options for the local people to develop a sense of belonging, hence exceeding the idea of hubs as sole mobility nodes.

Sreetama Pal, Re-imagining resilience in the conflict between nature and the built environment: the case of Majuli, a disappearing island of India

Focusing on the Majuli, the largest inhabited riverine island in the world, the entry comprehensively deals with creating a resilient village community and re-imagining the spaces of conflicts between the forces of nature and the built environment. It first offers the master plan of the area and the spatial characteristics of the community, to further develop detailed architecture design that re-establishes the image of the community through architecture by incorporating local cultural aspirations.

We express our gratitude to all the applicants and look forward to numerous SA submissions in a year to come.