The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) has announced the finalists for the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2024. Selected from a total of 297 projects corresponding to 35 European countries, the 2024 edition nominates 5 finalists in the General category, promoting quality public spaces throughout the European territory, and 5 in the Seafronts category, addressing coastal cities' climate vulnerabilities. The European Prize for Urban Public Space is an honorary biennial competition aiming to highlight best practices and innovations in the creation, transformation, and recovery of public spaces in European cities.
As the first edition to include a dedicated category for Seafronts, this year’s awards recognize the importance and particular challenges faced by coastal cities. This is aligned with the Cultural Regatta, a schedule of activities running parallel to the America's Cup sailing competition in Barcelona. For this edition, the International Jury was presided over by the urbanist architect, landscape, and industrial designer Beth Galí, and made up of Sonia Curnier, Fabrizio Gallanti, Žaklina Gligorijević, Beate Hølmebakk, Manon Mollard, Francesco Musco, and Lluís Ortega. The winners of the 12th European Prize for Urban Public Space will be announced during a ceremony at CCCB on October 29, 2024.
Read on to discover the full list of finalists in the two categories, along with descriptions provided by CCCB.
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Contemporary Public Spaces: 11 Projects That Inspire New IdeasGeneral Category
Park at the Warsaw Uprising Mound / topoScape, Archigrest
Warsaw, Poland
A new park offers a public space connected to the memory of the place. It does so in an innovative way, creating a new urban area with a character that acknowledges and visibilities history, recycling the ruins of World War II destruction, and with the future in mind, providing a park that is accessible and enjoyable for citizens. It achieves this by means of strategies that are sensitive to the ecological needs of the area, projecting a unique integration of memory, leisure, and ecology.
Boca de la Mina Promenade / Batlleiroig
Reus, Spain
A new promenade exemplifies the seamless integration of landscape, history, ecological needs, and health and leisure activities by means of meticulous design. The use of handmade brick gives the site a coherent character, while the clear water management strategy enhances landscape-urban permeability. This approach supports open-air activities for the citizens of Reus and its surroundings, promoting both ecological and recreational benefits.
Seven interventions in Monte / studioser
Castel San Pietro, Switzerland
This project is the result of a thorough study of several peripheral regions of Ticino, where the needs and challenges faced by the elderly population in their everyday lives were identified as issues to be addressed. Following these recommendations, Monte implemented a proposal that, through careful, sophisticated architectural craftsmanship, transformed the town into a more accessible, inclusive, and supportive environment.
CHAPEX / AJDVIV, AgwA
Charleroi, Belgium
This large structure exemplifies how post-industrial sites can be reintegrated into the urban landscape and public life. It achieves this by leveraging the power of the unused structure and the project’s open-ended nature. This optimistic intervention embraces the existing site, identifies new opportunities with architectural intelligence, and uses very limited resources to maximize urban qualities. It becomes an infrastructure ready for life to take over.
Urban Forest / Ruderal
Tbilisi, Georgia
This ambitious 700-hectare project aims to rectify a flawed plantation strategy from the 1920s that involved exclusively planting pines. This aging pine plantation has suffered significant die-offs due to pests and fungi, creating a fire hazard and posing a risk to public safety. The project serves not only as a remediation strategy, by increasing biodiversity through the introduction of autochthonous species, but also to develop new tools for addressing urban ecological interventions. It offers a new public space and an urban forest that helps contain unchecked urban growth, providing Tbilisi with a forward-looking, open-ended project
Seafronts Category
Beach improvement and redevelopment of the harbor edge / CREUSeCARRASCO, RVR Arquitectos
Porto do Son, Spain
This project renaturalizes the seafront, currently occupied by an urbanized strip, by creating a terrain with dunes that protects an existing park and rebuilds the relationship between port activity and the citizens. The intervention employs a gradient of strategies that respond to the varying conditions of the frontline, and recognizes the identity of this village—salting, drying nets, shipbuilding—, while demonstrating the benefits of collaboration over time between various political, civic and economic stakeholders.
Redevelopment of Dún Laoghaire Baths / DLR Architects’ Department, A2 Architects
Dublin, Ireland
The project revitalizes the long-abandoned seafront facilities, reconnecting the town with the sea. This was achieved through the careful, skilful use of materials that acknowledge the ocean’s energy, resulting in a robust, socially inclusive new route to the water for all citizens. The project included the removal of old, dilapidated buildings, and opening new public spaces that restore the citizens’ relationship with the sea.
Coastal walk / Estudi Martí Franch Arquitectura del Paisatge, Ardevol Consultors Associats
Palamós, Spain
This 5 km coastal intervention exemplifies excellent design, preserving and enhancing the coastal landscape while connecting the town, nearby beaches and a natural park. Through minimal interventions that maximize impact, it demonstrates a deep understanding of the site. This approach celebrates the sublime landscape, reduces user impact and ensures its protection.
Sea Park / Benedetta Tagliabue - EMBT Architects
Rímini, Italy
The park transforms the previously unstructured, fragmented seafront into an urban park, seamlessly integrated with its surroundings. Along its 6 km length, it recognizes and embraces the city’s exuberance, providing a new identity and a green urban space for tourists and locals alike. This park plays a crucial role in reducing the impact of climate change while mitigating the intense touristic impact on the urban character and quality of the area.
Beach Boulevard / LAOS landscape urbanism
Delfzijl, Netherlands
The project has reconnected the city center of Delfzijl to the Wadden Sea. Due to rising sea levels and climate change, there was a need to increase defenses, which created a visual barrier between the city and the sea. The new boulevard addresses this issue by linking the two and generating a new public space by means of infrastructural improvements and ecological restoration. The engineering work inspired the design, and the resulting intervention promotes and improves access to the sea, and facilitates a better understanding of the landscape.
