UNIGE students win the global competition "Students Reinventing Cities"

At the initiative of the SRIP, UNIGE students from the Master in Innovation, Human Development and Sustainability, the Master in Territorial Development, the Master in Environmental Sciences and the Master in African Studies participated in the global competition « Students Reinventing Cities ». In the framework of this contest, launched by the C40 – a network of cities committed to sustainable development and transition – students were invited to propose their vision of greener and more inclusive urban neighbourhoods.

Supervised by Dr. Alexandre Hedjazi and Dr. Matteo Tarantino, the students working on a neighbourhood of the city of Athens teamed up with students from the University of Patras, among others, and benefited from joint courses given by teachers from both universities. They also organized distance field studies and surveys in collaboration with their Greek colleagues.

Under the supervision of Professor Armelle Choplin, Dr. Eloïse Pelaud and Dr. Raphaël Languillon, a second group of students worked on the cities of Dakar, Chicago, Bogota and Reykjavik in association with students from the local universities in order to better anchor their projects in the local contexts.

The award-winning project for the city of Athens aims to increase the resilience of a very dense urban area by using soil as a resource to cool the city and improve stormwater infiltration. It also improves conditions for vegetation to flourish, while promoting soft mobility, social cohesion and the local economy in the neighborhood.

The award-winning project for the city of Bogota aims to transform a historic covered market and commercial district into an inclusive and productive eco-neighborhood. By 2035, Eco-Barrio 7 de Agosto will provide economic and recreational opportunities for residents to live, work and relax in a sustainable way within a twenty-minute walking distance.

The winners will receive public recognition from the City of Athens and the C40, signed by the city's mayor and the C40 director, along with media coverage. They will also appear in the official video with the presentation of their project and will be consulted by the cities of Athens and Bogota for future projects in this field.

UNIGE students, winners for the city of Athens:

Maria Isabel Alvarez Fernandez

Arissandra Egorova

Fabio Monnet

Ana Carolina Peixoto Deveza

Patras University students, winners for the city of Athens:

Konstantina Angelopoulou; Eleftheria Arvanitaki; Apollon Diamantis; Eleni Georgiou; Joanna Magkafa; Katerina Mavrommati; Katerina Mindrinou; Anastasia Nikolaou; Nikos Spiliotopoulos

UNIGE students, laureates for the city of Bogota:

Inge Leonora Baak

Tessa Harries

Katherine Alyssa Huang

University of Bogota students, winners for the city of Bogota:

Angie Melissa Castillo Suárez, Gabriela Castro Ortega

The "Students Reinventing Cities" competition allows academics and students to collaborate with cities around the world. Together, they imagine a more sustainable and inclusive vision of cities, rethinking the way neighbourhoods are planned. This event comes at a key moment: the fight against climate change. The objectives of the competition are not only to move towards greener cities - especially in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis - but also to build a broad coalition with young climate activists, union representatives, businesses, universities and civil society. This type of experience is an asset for students and prepares them for the professional world. Not only it provides them with project management tools, but it also gets them used to working in multicultural and interdisciplinary teams.