Hello Critters,

While in lockdown, you and/or your department or students might be interested in this challenge that has been launched today. 

It's been organised by a collaboration between "London City Region's" National Park City, National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Ordnance Survey and Culture Declares. The deadline is October 31 2020.

https://www.prizetotransformthefuture.org/
@Prize_Transform #PrizeToTransformTheFuture


PRIZE TO TRANSFORM THE FUTURE

What should the London City Region look like in 20 years?

What might the London City Region look like 20 years from now? Now imagine what it could and should look like. What if it was radically greener, healthier, wilder and more beautiful? What would it look like? What would it be like?

We’re calling for optimists to help visualise a hopeful and possible future for the region.

What is the London City Region?
London is one of the world’s largest and most influential cities. Its footprint extends way beyond the city’s administrative boundary.

From the Surrey Hills to the New Forest, the White Cliffs of Dover to the Cotswolds, encompassing the new London National Park City, the wider London City region is home to one of the world's most beautiful, important, enjoyable and inspiring landscapes.

Strongly influenced by the capital, the London region's population is growing rapidly and adding pressure to the landscape. At the same time, we must respond to the climate emergency, reverse the loss of wildlife, provide healthy food for everyone, build more affordable homes and get more people outdoors and closer to nature for their health, wellbeing and enjoyment.

Despite the challenges, there are great opportunities to make the region’s landscapes richer and better connected for people, wildlife and the land itself, to enhance them as a shared resource for all, and to protect these spaces for now and for future generations.

What is the prize?
The Prize to Transform the Future is an opportunity and a challenge to reimagine and visualise all or part of the London City Region.

We want to see ideas that make lives and landscapes greener, healthier, more beautiful and wilder.

This open call is open to artists, architects, cartographers, imagineers, optimists, realists, landscape architects, master planners, conservationists, graphic designers, farmers, film-makers, ecologists, illustrators, geographers, students, politicians, professionals, writers, modellers, pensioners, weavers, idealists and bankers. Anyone in fact.

The Prize itself is a platform to influence, shape and transform the future. It is an opportunity to inspire action and create a positive legacy. If we can see it, we are collectively more likely to make it happen.

Depending on the nature of the winning visualisations and ideas, we will work to make sure they are received by the Ministers, departments, organisations, experts and influencers who could help to bring them to life.

In addition, a selection of the entrants will be published online by National Geographic UK as well as other media outlets.

You can create your visualisation in any format including maps, sketches, video, paintings, fabric or words, as long as the thinking could be applied to the whole region. Submissions should be image-based but you may choose to support your visualisation with a written statement outlining what would be needed to make your possible future happen.

Taking inspiration from the incredibly long and rich history of the region, you are welcome to stretch your ideas further by sharing a vision for 200 or even 2,000 years into the future too. After all, there are trees in the region that have been alive for longer than that.

How to enter?
You can enter on your own or in a team. You can enter as a:

- Professional team
- School team
- University team
- Community team
- Individual aged over 21
- Individual aged 21 or under

For more details on submissions and formats for submissions see the "how to enter" page of our website.

The Prize may be awarded to one entrant or shared between many entries.

A collective legacy will also be created by reviewing and synthesising all of the entries. So, no matter who you are, your age or experience or ability to draw we want to hear from you.

Everyone who enters will be acknowledged on this website. You can optionally let us know that you intend to enter and we will add your name below.

The Prize will be awarded by a large judging panel with diverse expertise. We will be announcing the names of the judges over coming weeks below.

You should not let it restrict your thinking, but for further reading and background read The Protected Landscapes of the London City Region a 25 Year Vision which concludes with the questions “What if London was to become the World’s first National Park City?".

What if we started to build that story out not just for London but for the benefit of the whole city region?

Join the #PrizeToTransformTheFuture conversation.

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