Transport & Urban Development
Exploring Mediterranean Urban Solutions to Climate Change and Resilience
Introduction
As part of the Day of the Mediterranean 2025 celebrations (28 November), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is hosting the second edition of its biennial Urban Design student competition, titled ‘Urban Solutions to Climate Change in the Mediterranean’.
Participation is open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in relevant Schools or Departments across the 43 UfM Member States. Eligible proposals, however, must be situated in a UfM Member State along the Mediterranean (see details below).
Urban Design solutions for all kinds of climatic challenges that embrace resilience as a foundation, enable transition as a process and foster transformation as an outcome, constitute the main subject of the competition – taking into account the following:
Mediterranean cities have a multi-layered structure. Socio-cultural, physical, economic, political, and technological dynamics are constantly evolving, and cities serve as the primary arenas where these changes manifest. Cities can be understood as composed of multiple contextual layers, which shape their original forms through processes of overlapping, juxtaposition, and sometimes intricate interweaving. The interaction of these dynamics rapidly transforms not only the urban fabric but also daily life, giving rise to new urban spaces and novel spatial practices.
As some of the regions most affected by climate change, cities along the Mediterranean, must be planned and designed to confront sea-level rise, droughts, water scarcity, overheating, and urban heat-island effects. At the same time, respecting their unique cultural and morphological characteristics, these cities require creative, innovative, and tailored solutions to adapt both their built environment and urban heritage to the challenges posed by climate change and disasters.
Students meeting the requirements are invited to submit proposals that adopt a multi-scalar approach to the challenges of climate change in the Mediterranean basin and their built environments, while always grounding their response in the urban design scale. Submissions should demonstrate how resilience can be embedded within Mediterranean urban fabrics, how transition can guide adaptive processes, and how transformation can open pathways to new models of sustainable urban life. Designs are expected to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and to embrace cultural, social, economic, and environmental sustainability
Who can participate?
- Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the 2023/2024 or 2024/2025 academic years in Schools or Departments of Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning, or Landscape within a Union for the Mediterranean Member State are eligible. This applies to students submitting proposals individually or to the team leader. In team submissions, other members may come from related disciplines
- The Union for the Mediterranean Member States include all EU countries, plus Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Palestine, Tunisia, and Türkiye. The school of each participating student must be located in one of these countries.
- Students are encouraged to participate individually or in teams of up to five members. Travel expenses to attend the Awarding Ceremony in Barcelona will be covered for up to two students per winning team
Which projects are eligible?
- Eligible projects must be located in a country bordering the Mediterranean. This includes sites within Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, or Morocco
- While maintaining flexibility, projects must address the challenges posed by the effects of climate change in cities and built environment of the Mediterranean basin.
- The competition promotes a multi-scalar approach, but above all, it expects participants to address the urban design scale.
- Submitted proposals should be based on an already completed design studio.
Prizes
3 projects will be awarded:
1st Prize: 5.000 €
2nd Prize: 3.000 €
3rd Prize: 2.000 €
The jury may shortlist up to 10 additional proposals.
Information about registration and submit
- Students must register by 3 November 2025. The registration is mandatory in order to submit proposals.
- The registration is free of charge.
- In the case of proposals to be submitted by teams, only one registration per team is required.
- Once registered participants will receive a link to submit the proposal.
- The title / name of the proposal should appear in all documents. Information that reveals the identity of the student/s – such as name, university or country – is not allowed in the materials of the proposal. All the documentation has to be submitted in English.
- The deadline for submitting proposals is 17 November 2025 (inclusive), 23:59 hrs CET.
Information to be submitted
- Title / Name of your proposal.
- A form, signed by the University or School in which the participant(s) were enrolled during the 2023/2024 or 2024/2025 academic years, confirming that the student(s) meet the registration requirements. In the case of teams, a separate form is required for each team member.
Title_certification.pdf
Additionally, the professor/s in charge will certify that the project/topic was basically addressed in the studio or Final Project.
Professor/s_certification.pdf
- A maximum 90-second video presenting the project (up to 30 MB in size). The video should remain anonymous.
Title_video.mp4
- Two panels in PDF format, DINA2 size, oriented horizontally, with a maximum file size of 10 MB each. The presentation should generally include a site plan, location plan, project plans, sections, details, design process documentation (sketches, diagrams, notes), images (aerial photographs, views, renders, photomontages, photos of physical models, collages), and any other forms of representation that convey the conceptual approach.
Title_panels.pdf
- A written project description of no more than 200 words.
All documentation must be submitted in English.
The organizers are not responsible for technical issues or delays affecting project submissions. All materials should be submitted simultaneously. To avoid potential problems, such as website slowdowns near the submission deadline, please do not wait until the last minute to submit your application.
Award Criteria
The jury will evaluate proposals against 3 award criteria and score them as follows:
|
Criterion |
Maximum points |
|
|
1. |
Creative and innovative solutions to address climatic challenges and resilience in the Mediterranean basin that ensure the quality of the urban space |
60 |
|
2. |
Dialogue with specific cultural and morphologic features of Mediterranean cities and territories |
25 |
|
3. |
Contribution to the achievement of SDGs and also to consider cultural, social, economic and environmental sustainability |
10 |
|
4. |
Quality of the graphics, rendering and presentation of the proposal |
5 |
|
|
Total |
100 |
Clarifications
Clarifications to questions received at office@ufmcompetition.org are available here
Calendar
30th September: Opening of registration
3rd November: Registration deadline
10th November: Deadline for request for clarifications to office@ufmcompetition.org
17th November: Deadline for submission of proposals
Payment arrangements
The prizes will be paid to the winners via bank transfer in one single instalment at the latest 60 days after the award ceremony.
In case of winner proposals submitted by teams the transfer of the prize will be done to the team leader.
Steering Committee
- Güldehan ATAY, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul (Turkey)
- Carles CROSAS, ETSAB Barcelona (Spain)
- Rachid ALILLOUCH, ENA Fez (Morocco)
- Victoria Jimenez, UfM Head of Sector for Urban Development
Jury
- Ouafa Messous, ENA Rabat (Morocco)
- Laurent Hodebert, ENSA Marseille (France)
- Teresa Marat, ISCTE Lisboa (Portugal)
- Dina Shehayeb, Nile University (Egypt)
- Burak Buyukcivelek, METU (Türkiye)
The UfM reserves the right to modify the competition rules, cancel the competition, or decide not to award a prize, without any obligation to compensate participants.
The UfM applies EU regulations, including PRAG, which will be applied to this competition by analogy.
Since May 25, 2018 the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR) requires your explicit consent to collect any personal details. The collection of your details for this meeting and related uses will strictly respect the terms of the EU-GDPR.
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