European Prize for Urban Public Space 2024

Meeting at the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, the Jury is constituted by its president, Beth Galí, architect and landscape and urban designer, (Barcelona); Sonia Curnier, architect (Lausanne); Fabrizio Gallanti, architect and curator (Bordeaux); Žaklina Gligorijević, urban planner (Belgrade); Beate Hølmebakk, architect (Oslo); Manon Mollard, architect and editor (London); Francesco Musco, architect and urban planner (Venice); and Lluís Ortega, architect, the Jury secretary who has produced the minutes (Barcelona).

The Jury of the 2024 European Prize for Urban Public Space awards the Prize for the General Category:

Park at the Warsaw Uprising Mound
Warsaw (Poland), 2023
Developer: Zarząd Zieleni m.st. Warszawy
Authors: topoScape, Archigrest
The jury especially values the project’s ability to embrace the site’s memory with an experimental approach to its materialization. The design acknowledges that the space and the citizens’ experience become part of a collective memory, approaching history not through monumentalism but through a material, ecological and pedagogical lens. The park becomes a memorial in itself. The project stands out for recognizing the complexity of public space, which comprises multiple layers of meaning and interaction. By reconfiguring the traditional aesthetics of an urban park, it reimagines the park as a deep ecological entity, accepting invasive species and embracing an element of “unfinished” imagination that encourages user engagement and unveils a new aesthetic for urban parks.

The Jury of the 2024 European Prize for Urban Public Space awards the Prize for the Seafronts Category:

Beach improvement and redevelopment of the harbour edge
Porto do Son (Spain), 2022
Developer: Portos de Galicia—Conselleria do Mar—Xunta de Galicia / Concello Porto do Son
Authors: RVR arquitectes, CREUSeCARRASCO
The project in Porto do Son serves a dual purpose: renaturalising the seafront with dunes protecting an existing park and rebuilding the relationship between port activities and the local community. It achieves this in a nuanced way, offering a remarkable range of solutions that acknowledge the diversity of the urban waterfront without oversimplifying the challenges posed by such variety. The project remedies the previous poor coexistence between port activities and the urban activities of Porto do Son and fosters direct contact between town and sea. The Jury appreciates the project’s bold—even radical—decision to preserve the old wall that protects the town from particularly rough seas by placing the new facilities on its reverse side. These new facilities will bring new urban life to a space that was previously reserved exclusively for port installations. We especially applaud the fact that the project demonstrates deep understanding of the issues it addresses, including the need to protect and integrate architecture and seafront defences; the urgency of ensuring access to the water for all members of the community by connecting this experience as closely as possible with the urban fabric; the necessity of providing infrastructure that enhances pedestrian use of the waterfront; and the importance of safeguarding and restoring natural systems in a situation of urbanisation and climate change. This approach is handled with honesty, care, and thoroughgoing architectural expertise, resulting in a design that is both responsive to urban needs and respectful of natural systems.

Statement
We, the jury, appreciated the diversity of the submitted projects. We would now like to highlight the key themes and values represented in the range of proposals that we first shortlisted and then selected as finalists.

Check all the finalists ans selected works here.