Rules
Rules of the Europan 12 Competition
Contents
1. Entry Conditions
1.1. Entrants
1.2. Formation of Teams
1.3. Changes to Teams
1.4. Non-Eligibility
2. Registration
2.1. Europan 12 Website
2.2. Team Registration
3. Information Available to Teams
3.1. Complete Site Folder
3.2. FAQ
4. Requirements on Entrants
4.1. Number of Submissions
4.2. Anonymity and Compulsory Content on Every Document
4.3. Language
4.4. Items to Be Submitted by the Team
5. Submission of Entries
5.1. Digital Submission
5.2. Information on Submissions
6. Results and Prizes
6.1. Results
6.2. Winners
6.3. Runners-up
6.4. Special Mentions
7. Publication of the Competition Results
7.1. Exhibitions
7.2. Publications
7.3. Websites
8. Rights and Obligations
8.1. Ownership
8.2. Exhibition and Publication Rights
8.3. Disputes
9. List of Europan 12 Competitions
RULES OF THE EUROPAN 12 COMPETITION
1. ENTRY CONDITIONS
1.1. Entrants
Europan 12 is open to any team consisting of an architect in partnership or not with one or more professionals of the same or other disciplines (architects, urban planners, landscapers, engineers, artists, etc.)
Each team member, whatever his/her profession, must be under the age of 40 years old on the closing date for submission of entries (see calendar).
1.2. Formation of Teams
There is no limit to the number of participants per team.
Team Representative
He/she must be an architect with a qualification from a European country or must have the architect status under the laws of a European country. He/she must hold a university degree or equivalent from a European university or school of architecture recognized by Europe.
In specific cases and when mentioned on the site definition (see synthetic site file), the team representative can be an architecture, urban or landscape professional (architect, landscaper, urban planner, architect-engineer) with a qualification from a European country. He/she must hold a university degree or equivalent from a European university or school of architecture recognized by Europe. In this case the team shall necessarily include at least one architect among the associates.
Membership in a European professional body is optional, except in the case of a team representative without a European degree.
The team representative is the sole contact with the national and European secretariats.
Associates
Associates are considered to be co-authors of the project and are credited as such in all national and European publications and exhibitions.
They are young professionals with a qualification from a European country in any of the relevant disciplines, regardless of nationality. The compulsory requirement is to hold a university degree or equivalent from a European university or school of architecture.
Membership in a European professional body is optional, except in the case of associates without a European degree.
Contributors
Teams may include additional members, called contributors. Contributors may be qualified or unqualified but none of them shall be considered as a project co-author.
1.3. Changes to Teams
A registered team may add or withdraw members by modifying the online registration form on the website until the closing date for submissions (June 28th, 2013). After this date, no further change shall be accepted.
No participant can belong to two different teams.
1.4. Non-eligibility
No competition organizer (members of the Europan structures, employees and contractors and/or partners working for municipalities with sites proposed in the current session, members of technical committees, observers or jury members and their employees) and members of their families are eligible to take part in the competition in a country where he/she is involved. Still, he/she can participate to a Europan competition on a site in another country.
2. REGISTRATION
Teams are required to register through the European website: www.europan-europe.eu
Registration to the contest implies the acceptance of the competition rules.
In compliance with French Act #78-17 of Jan. 6th, 1978, on Information Technology, Data Files and Civil Liberties the protection of personal data communicated during registration is guaranteed.
2.1. Europan 12 Website
The European website for the twelfth session of the competition is available online from the opening date of the competition (March 18th, 2013) at the following url: www.europan-europe.eu
It includes the complete European rules for the Europan 12 competition, the session theme, the synthetic and detailed site files grouped geographically or by themes, as well as the composition of the juries and an organisational chart of all the Europan structures.
Besides giving access to the information on the competition the website also offer the possibility to register to the competition and submit the complete proposals online.
The website is bilingual French-English except for the site documents in English (and possibly in the site language).
2.2. Team Registration
Each team must make an online payment of €150. There shall be no refund of the registration fee. This fee includes registration to the Europan 12 competition, the possibility to download one complete site folder and the printing of the panels on rigid support as well as of the digital document by the national secretariats.
Payment is confirmed automatically on the website. The team can then access its personal area and the digital entry area and download the complete site folder for the selected site.
3. INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO TEAMS
3.1. Complete Site Folder
It includes detailed written documents on the city, the site, its context and the developers’ intentions, as well as drawings, photos and any graphic document required for the design process.
This document is in English and may also be in the site language.
Additional site folders are available for an additional fee of €50 per folder.
3.2 FAQ
Sites
A meeting is organised on each site between the teams and the municipalities and/or developers to give a detailed picture of the issues related to the site and to answer potential questions.
A report is then written in English by the national structure of the site and published in a maximum of two weeks after the meeting. It is available online on each site webpage.
In addition, an online FAQ forum is set up for each site on the European website for a limited period of time (see calendar).
Rules
An online FAQ forum is set up on the European website. Questions are grouped into categories, each of which receiving appropriate answers.
4. REQUIREMENTS ON ENTRANTS
4. 1 Number of Submissions
Each team can enter submissions on several sites, provided that those sites are located in different countries and/or assessed by different juries (case of associate countries).
4.2 Anonymity and Compulsory Content on Every Document
Code
A specific code is automatically attributed to each project when it is uploaded. The teams do not know this code, through which the jury members take knowledge of the project. The teams’ identities are revealed via an automatic link between the code and the team on the online projects database.
Site Name & Project Title
The site name and the project title must be displayed on every document.
4.3. Language
The projects must be written in the site language or in English, except the digital document which has to be in English only, or in English and in the site language.
4.4. Items to be submitted by the team
Content of the digital submission:
1. Three A1 Boards
These boards –594x841mm– should be laid out vertically and numbered from 1 to 3 in the top right corner. The top left corner is left blank on a L:60mm x H:40mm box in which the code will automatically be printed. The name of the city has to appear next to it. The team is free to decide on the positioning of the proposal title.
Content of the boards:
Board 1 explains the urban ideas developed in the project with reference to the city’s concerns and the thematic orientations of the proposal.
Boards 2 and 3 present the project as a whole, highlighting the architecture of the project, and more particularly the relationship between the new developments and the site’s existing context, including three-dimensional representations of the project.
All graphic and descriptive documents must have a graphic scale.
Failure to comply with the abovementionned requirements on board presentation may result in the disqualification of the team.
2. Digital Document
The digital document is a horizontal A3 (420x297mm). The top left corner is left blank on a L:60mm x H:40mm box in which the code will automatically be printed.
The document is composed of 7 pages maximum explaining the content of the project by means of texts, schemes and/or drawings.
The document texts are only in English or in English and in the language of the country.
3. Personal Information on Team Members
Documents for the disclosure of names and verification of the validity of the proposals shall be scanned and uploaded on the team’s online personnal area.
Please note that failure to include all the documents listed in paragraphs 1 and 2 may result in the disqualification of the team.
This digital envelope includes:
1. The team’s personal form and the declaration of author- and partnership and acceptance of the competition rules, available online on the team’s personnal area; to be filled out and signed.
2. For each team member:
- A scanned copy of an ID document with a picture, providing evidence that they are under the age of 40 at the closing date for submission of entries (see calendar.)
- A scanned copy of their European degree as an architectural, urban or landscape professional (architect, landscaper, urban planner…) or proof of such a status under the law of a European country.
The digital envelope should not include any other documents than the ones listed above.
5. SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES
5.1. Digital Submission
Digital submission is compulsory. The projects shall be printed on rigid support by the national secretariats.
The projects as well as the documents listed in §4.4. section 3 shall be submitted by midight (Paris time) on June 28th, 2013, through the Entry section on the European website.
This submission must include:
- The 3 boards in vertical A1 and JPEG / 300 dpi / CMYK; each board must not exceed 20MB (mega bytes).
- The maximum 7-page digital document in horizontal A3 and PDF; the document must not exceed 15MB (mega bytes).
5.2. Information on Submissions
Each team can check the receival of their projects on their online personal area. They can also –if needed– modify these documents until the deadline for submissions.
The number of entries per site is available on the European website on the sites individual webpages and on the European map of the sites presentation.
6. RESULTS AND PRIZES
6.1. Results
All the results for Europan 12 are available online from December 13th, 2013, on the European website (www.europan-europe.eu).
6.2. Winners
Winners receive a reward of the equivalent of €12,000 (all taxes included) in the currency of the site’s country (at the exchange rate on the date of the announcement of the results).
The organizers undertake to abide by the decisions of the national juries and to pay the reward within 90 days of the announcement of the results.
6.3. Runners-up
Runners-up receive a reward of the equivalent of €6,000 (all taxes included) in the currency of site’s country (at the exchange rate on the date of the announcement of the results).
The organizers undertake to abide by the decisions of the national juries and to pay the reward within 90 days of the announcement of the results.
6.4. Special Mention
A Special Mention can be awarded to a project considered innovative although not completely adapted to the site. The authors of such proposals do not receive a reward.
7. PUBLICATION OF THE COMPETITION RESULTS
7.1. Exhibitions
National events
The competition results result in exhibitions and press conferences in every organising or associate country where all the projects are available for consultation.
Meetings are organised on the initiative of the national structures between the prize-winning teams and professionals in the fields of architecture, urban planning and the site development, to enable a better understanding of the winning projects and initiate the implementation phase.
Inter-Sessions Forum
A European event called Intersessions Forum is the link between a finishing session and the beginning of the new one. This forum gathers the winning teams and site representatives of the finishing session and the site representatives of the new one around the results and first implementation steps of the projects awarded during the last session.
7.2. Publications
National publications
If possible, each national secretariat produces a publication presenting the prize-winning proposals and special mentions in their country.
European publication
The European secretariat coordinates the publication of a European results catalogue presenting all the prize-winning projects. There is no obligation to publish special mentions.
Every winning team receives a copy of this catalogue.
The book is sold in specialised bookshops and can be ordered on the European website.
7.3. Websites
Europan Europe
The European website –www.europan-europe.eu– includes all the elements of the competition, the results with the jurys’ reports on the European scale, the programmes of the European events and every new information on the current session and on the European scale.
The site can also be used to discover the thematized prize-winning projects from the previous sessions and the completed or ongoing implementation processes, and to buy the publications.
National secretariats
Each national secretariat’s website presents information on the national competition for the current session. They are all connected to the Europan website.
8. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS
8.1. Ownership
All material received by the organizers becomes their property, including reproduction rights.
The intellectual property rights on each project remain the exclusive property of the author(s) of the project.
8.2. Exhibition and Publication Rights
Moratorium on Publication
The teams may not publish drawings included in the competition or disclose their names by using their project for any communication before the official announcement of the results. Any such publication may result in the disqualification of the team.
Publications
The organisers reserve the right to publish all the projects submitted to them after the offical announcement of results.
Projects are exhibited or published under the names of their authors.
8.3. Disputes
Any dispute shall be heard by the Council of the Europan European Association, which is empowered to arbitrate.
9. LIST OF EUROPAN 12 COMPETITIONS
The Contact section of the European website shows the detailed national competition conditions country by country (number of sites and prizes, conditions of construction rights, etc.) as well as the details of the national and European structures, with the names of the people working for them.
The Jury section of the European website lists the members of the national juries.
Internal Europan Competitions Procedures
Contents
1. Forum of Sites
2. Items to Be Provided to Entrants
2.1. European Website: Synthetic Site Files
2.2. Complete Site Folder
3. Jury Procedures
3.1 Judging
3.1.1. Technical Committee
3.1.2. Composition of the Juries
3.1.3. Structure of the Juries
3.1.4. Evaluation Criteria
3.1.5. Disclosure of Names
3.1.6. Announcement of the Results
3.2 European Comparative Analysis
3.2.1. European Comparative Analysis Committee
3.2.2. Forum of Cities and Juries
4. Communication around the Competition
4.1. Launch of the Europan Competition
4.2. End of the Europan Competition
4.3. Websites
5. Implementations
5.1. Activities to Promote Implementations
5.2. Websites
5.3. Implementation Books and Booklets
INTERNAL EUROPAN COMPETITION PROCEDURES
1. FORUM OF SITES
Before the launch of the competition, a Forum gathers the city representatives for the sites proposed to the session, experts and the national Europan structures to foster discussion and debate about the sites.
It aims at finalizing the competition site briefs and establishing the sites theme classification. The goal is to involve cities, urban developers and contracting authorities in the Europan process and to ensure that the different partners in the session share a common culture.
The Europan 12 Forum of Sites was held in Malmö (SE) on January 11th and 12th, 2013.
2. ITEMS TO BE PROVIDED TO ENTRANTS
2.1 European Website: Synthetic Site Files
This document is in English (and possibly in the site language).
These files are grouped geographically or by theme, providing for each site:
> good-quality iconographic documents:
- 1 map of the city or conurbation identifying the location of the study site and giving the graphic scale;
- 1 aerial photography of the study site in its context identifying the location of the study site and the project site;
- 1 oblique aerial photography (semi-aerial) of the study site;
- 1 oblique aerial photography (semi-aerial) of the project site;
- 1 map of the area identifying the study site and the graphic scale;
- 1 map of the area identifying the project site and the graphic scale;
- at least 3 to 6 ground-level photographies showing the site’s characteristic elements (topography, natural features, existing architecture);
> written information:
- the site category;
- the profile of the team representative: architect or professional of the urban design;
- names of the town and place, population of the town and conurbation, surface area of the study and project sites, site owner(s), expected follow-up after the competition;
- topic: Europan 12 issues such as the developer’s specific objectives, the town strategy, strategic issues of the site and relation the session topic: The Adaptable City, Inserting Urban Rhythms.
The questions refers to 3 levels:
> The conurbation, or regional scale;
> The study site, or urban scale;
> The project site, or local scale.
These documents can be printed and provide teams with a basis to help them select their project site(s).
2.2. Complete Site Folder
This document is in English (and possibly in the site language).
Each complete site folder includes all the necessary information (in quantity, analytical content and quality) for the team to design their project on the chosen site:
a. Pictures, diagrams, miscellaneous graphics
> Territorial scale - Conurbation
- 1 aerial photography of the city;
- 1 map on regional scale (urban geography) or urban scale (conurbation) with a graphic appropriate scale showing the major features (buildings, networks and natural features) that structure the area.
> Urban scale - Study site
- 1 aerial photography of the study site;
- at least 1 semi-aerial photography of the study site;
- at least 5 ground-level photographies showing the characteristic features of the study site: topography, natural features, existing architecture, etc.;
- plans of the study site with an appropriate scale;
- characteristic features (infrastructure, existing and future plans, etc.)
> Local scale – Project site
- at least 3 semi-aerial photographies of the project site;
- at least 10 ground-level photographies showing the characteristic features of the project site: topography, natural features, existing architecture, etc.;
- map(s) of the project site with an appropriate scale, showing the project site’s location within the study site;
- map(s) of the project site with an appropriate scale, showing the project site’s plot divisions, constructions, natural elements, etc.;
- topographical map of the project site with an appropriate scale and, if necessary, characteristic features (buildings and natural features to be retained or not, etc.)
b. Texts
The text is a 10-to-15-page illustrated document aiming at providing a better understanding of the main elements of the context through the existing elements as well as through the site’s mutation issues and its environment. It includes the following divisions:
- A detailed analysis of the regional and urban context, putting in perspective the transformations of the city and the region and including all the elements on this scale that may have an influence –today or in the future– on the site: mobility networks, ecological elements, urban structure, landscape, etc., within the general framework of the adaptable city.
- A detailed analysis of the study site putting in perspective the transformation of the site (the site and its environment) and illustrating how the theme of adaptability is taken into account.
With the analysis of the urban context of the study site: role of the study site in the city policy, presenting a development of the goals of the plan imagined by the municipality.
Programmatic framework: planned transportation networks, public and private spaces to build and/or upgrade, with assumptions about planned functions and/or dimensions, objective for public spaces and infrastructures, and detailed explanations of the choices of the developers for each aspect of the programmes.
- A detailed analysis of the project site putting in perspective the site transformation and how to make it more adaptable.
With the programmatic framework: networks of transports, spaces to build and/or regenerate, with functions and dimensions, precise objectives for public spaces and infrastructures, with detailed explanations of the developers’ intentions as to parts of the programmes to be included.
- A summary of the main elements linked to the Europan 12 theme: The Adaptable City, Inserting Urban Rhythms, defining the way to take time into account at the level of uses and flexibility of the spaces (built or public), at the level of the implementation processes and/or at the level of natural elements.
The text also includes a description of the sociocultural context of the site, the city and the region and its evolution in order to help the participants better understand the local urban ways of life and the citizens’ rhythms.
These folders are available online to help participants prepare their projects.
3. JURY PROCEDURES
3.1. Judging
3.1.1. Technical Committee
Each country sets up a technical committee, which does not judge the entries but ensures that each entry complies with the rules.
It examines all the projects submitted in the country in order to prepare the work for the jury.
Its members are appointed by the national structures and the list of members is communicated to the European Europan Association. The technical committee may include representatives of the cities and national experts.
3.1.2. Composition of the juries
Each country sets up a jury, whose members are appointed by the national structure and approved by the Council of the European Europan Association.
The jury considers all the projects that comply with the competition rules. Its judgement is final. In the event of non-compliance with the rules, it has discretion whether or not to disqualify the entrant.
Each jury consists of 7 independent members and is constituted as follows:
- 2 representatives of the urban order (with no relation to a site proposed to the competition)
- 4 representatives of architectural and urban design (architects, landscapers, urban planners),
- 1 public figure.
At least 2 out of the 7 members must be foreign.
The national structure also appoints at least 2 substitute jury members, representatives of architectural and urban design.
A majority of the jury members should include representatives of the architectural and urban design, with at least 2 architects.
Jury members may consult representatives of the cities involved in the competition, but on no account may city representatives have voting rights for the final selection of winners, runners-up and special mentions.
The jury members are identified when the competition is launched and their names are listed for each country on the European website.
3.1.3. Structure of the Juries
The jury’s decisions are final in compliance with the Europan rules.
The jury meets in 2 separate sessions at different times:
- At the first session, it makes a preselection of 10 to 20% of the submitted projects. Sites representatives can be integrated to this jury level.
- At the second session, it examines –on its own and independently– all the preselected projects and points out the winners, runners-up and special mentions.
At the beginning of the first session, the jury appoints one of its members as chairman and agrees on its working method.
Each country holds in its budget the equivalent of a Winner’s prize and a Runner-Up prize for each site. Still, each entry is judged on its sole merits and the winning teams are not chosen on basis of an equal distribution between sites.
The jury can distribute prizes among entries up to his will and can decide not to award all the prizes. In this case, the reasons shall be made public.
The jury may single out projects for Special Mention. These projects are recognised by the jury as presenting innovative ideas or insights, yet not sufficiently suitable for the site to be awarded a winner or runner-up status. The authors of projects receiving a special mention do not receive any reward.
The jury may decide to replace a prize-winning project to be disqualified after validitation of its participation to the competition by another project, if the quality is satisfactory.
3.1.4. Evaluation criteria
Before beginning to work the jury receives recommendations from the European Association.
First, the jury shall study the projects that do not comply with the rules and decide whether or not to disqualify them.
During the first session, the jury assesses projects on basis of:
- their conceptual content, and
- the degree of innovation according to the Europan 12 theme: The Adaptable City, Inserting Urban Rhythms.
Between the two sessions a European comparative analysis arises from the preselected projects and constitutes a material for a European discussion with site representatives and jury members.
During the second session, the jury assesses projects on basis of:
- the relationship between concept and site;
- their relevance to the questions raised by the topic and in particular to the issues of sustainable development;
- the relevance of their programme to the general brief for their specific site;
- their potential for integration into a complex urban process;
- the innovative nature of the proposed public spaces;
- the consideration given to the connection between housing and other functions;
- the architectural qualities;
- the technical qualities.
The jury writes a report giving the reasons for its choice of winners, runners-up and special mentions in relation to the requirements of the competition and the concerned sites.
3.1.5. Disclosure of Names
The projects assessed by the experts and juries are anonymous.
Once the decision of results taken, ithe jury reveals the participantsʼ names for the winners, runners-up and special mentions. This operation is done through the European database, which automatically links the codes of the projects and composition of teams only once the jury’s decisions are made.
3.1.6. Announcement of Results
After disclosure of the names of the winning teams by the juries and following any adjustments to rankings that may prove necessary, the national secretariats ratify the decisions and disclose the names of all the participants. The results are then transmited to the European secretariat through the website.
The European secretariat validates the composition of the teams and then publishes online the complete list of results on December 13th, 2013.
3.2. European Comparative Analysis
3.2.1. European Comparative Analysis Committee
Between the two jury meetings the members of the European Scientific Committee meet to familiarize with the anonymous projects preselected by the different national juries.
They compare the projects and classify them by theme on basis of the problems raised by the site categories and the proposed ideas.
Under no circumstances does the European comparative analysis committee express a judgement. It simply classifies the projects from a purely thematic and comparative perspective.
3.2.2. Forum of Cities and Juries
A Forum gathers the national juries and the site representatives between the two national jury sessions to discuss the conclusions of the European comparative analysis committee.
It aims at ensuring that the different experts participating in the evaluation process share a common culture.
Projects remain anonymous throughout the procedures and are only identified by their code.
4. COMMUNICATION AROUND THE COMPETITION
4.1. Launch of the Europan Competition
The competition launch may be accompanied by press conferences in the different organizing or associate countries and possibly by meetings.
4.2. End of the Europan Competition
Events
The competition results result in exhibitions and press conferences in every organising or associate country.
A European event called Intersessions Forum is the link between a finishing session and the beginning of the new one. This forum gathers the winning teams and site representatives of the finishing session and the site representatives of the new one around the results and first implementation steps of the projects awarded during the last session.
Publications
The competition results can be the opportunity for publications in every organising or associate country.
The European secretariat publishes a European results catalogue.
4.3. Websites
Websites are set up by the national and European structures to present the current session, future events and archives from previous sessions, team portraits, etc.
5. IMPLEMENTATIONS
5.1. Activities to promote implementations
The European Association and the national structures undertake to do what is required to encourage cities and/or developers which have provided sites for the competition or their nominated promoters to engage the prize-winning teams for the operational phase.
The national structures, in consultation with the partners of the cities and the clients, promote a first meeting with the prize-winning teams within 90 days after the official announcement of results. This meeting is the starting point for implementations processes based on the ideas developped in the projects.
This operational follow-up consists of a series of events conceived as intermediate stages: workshops, urban studies, construction. If necessary, they may be implemented on a site other than the competition site as long as the ideas of the prize-winning projects are maintained.
The prize-winning teams must comply with the professional rules that apply in the country where they are engaged to work. After the competition and for contact with the municipalities and/or developers, the prize-winning teams must appoint one of their architect members as a representative, who is the sole spokesperson for the team.
A summary of each country’s laws on the rules of professional practice are posted in the Contact section of the European website.
5.2. Websites
In the different countries, the national Europan structures present the implementations at the national level.
The European secretariat presents completed or ongoing implementation processes on the European website.
5.3. Implementation Books and Booklets
The European secretariat, in partnership with the national structures concerned and the prize-winning teams, coordinates European publications of implementations, showing winning and runner-up projects from previous sessions that have been implemented or are still in progress.
Organizers
Contents
1. Definition
2. Objectives
3. Europan Organizers and Associates
3.1. Organizers
3.2. Cities and Urban Developers, Contracting Authorities
4. List of the Europan 12 Structures
5. Europan 12, Charter of the 16 Participating Countries
ORGANIZERS
1. DEFINITION
Europan is a European federation of national organizations which runs architectural competitions leading to building or design projects, launched simultaneously by several countries on a given theme and with common objectives. The present rules apply to all the competitions in the Europan session.
2. OBJECTIVES
In a spirit of open dialogue and cooperation within a broader Europe, Europan aims at generating greater understanding of and reflection on housing and urban planning issues and to promote exchanges on this subject among the different countries of Europe.
The goal of Europan is to help Europe’s young architecture, urban and landscape design professionals develop and promote their ideas in Europe and further afield.
Europan aims at helping cities and developers proposing sites to find innovative architectural and urban solutions to the problems they face.
The function of Europan in participating countries is thus to promote urban studies and experimental projects in the field of housing and to encourage the implementation of innovative urban processes.
3. EUROPAN ORGANIZERS AND ASSOCIATES
3.1. Organizers
National Organizing Structures
In each country, the competition is organized by a national structure made up of representatives of the government or supervisory authorities, municipalities, public and private developers, architects and the organizations which represent them, and cultural figures.
This national structure has the legal status of a non-profit association.
The role of the national structure is to oversee its national competition and to promote the ideas of the prize-winning architects with a view to their practical implementation.
Each national structure has a national secretariat.
Organizing Countries
The national structure of each organizing country that has signed the Charter undertakes to organize an architectural competition on the same theme, applying the same rules and following the same calendar as the other organizing countries.
Associate Countries
The national structure of each associate country that has signed the Charter undertakes to propose at least one site. It enters into a partnership with an organizing country for the judging process and participates in the competition on the same theme, with the same rules and following the same calendar as the organizing countries.
The Europan structures in these associate countries undertake to prepare and distribute the complete site folder. They undertake to work with the organizing countries to organize the judging of the project entries.
Europan Association
A European Europan Association acts as a unifying structure for the different national structures.
Its General Assembly is made up of four representatives from each of the national structures of the organizing countries, representatives of the associate countries, and honorary members. Its Council is made up of one representative from each organizing country.
A Scientific Committee of European experts is responsible for formulating proposals on the themes, conducting a comparative analysis of the sites and results, and contributing to strategic ideas on urban development in European towns and cities.
The Association has a Central Secretariat, which organizes its work and coordinates the activities of the national secretariats, the Council and the General Assembly. The European secretariat, in consultation with the national secretariats, is responsible for organizing European events and competitions. It ensures compliance with procedures.
The President of the Association is Thomas Sieverts. Thomas Sieverts is a German architect and urban planner. Having trained in Stuttgart, Liverpool and Berlin, he taught at Harvard University, The Technical University of Darmstadt and at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has published several books analysing the European city, the most famous of which being Zwischenstadt or (In-Between City).
3.2. Cities and Urban Developers, Contracting Authorities
Europan’s theme involves establishing a relationship and cooperating closely with cities, urban developers and contracting authorities in the organizing countries. These cities, developers and contracting authorities have been approached by each national structure to propose urban sites that meet the Europan competition requirements.
For these Europan partners, the collaboration provides an opportunity to use the prize-winning projects and the ensuing debate as a basis for the kind of open-thinking that is essential to the future development of their sites. It also permits them to enlist the services of the prize-winning teams, whatever their nationality, in the planning and implementation of the urban and/or architectural studies and projects that they require.
4. LIST OF EUROPAN 12 STRUCTURES
Details of the national and European structures and the names of the people involved in each country are available on the European website.
5. EUROPAN 12, CHARTER OF THE 16 PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES
As representatives of the national Europan structures for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, signatories of this Charter, we undertake to take part in Europan 12.
Within the context of the new paradigm of the sustainable city and the qualitative changes that it brings with the acceptance of the economy of resources, the new forms of mobility and the enhancement of natural spaces, we believe that architecture and urban design play a major role in the evolution of urban areas and landscapes, of the public spaces of the city, of social relations and the living conditions of 21st-century citydwellers, and contribute in a fundamental way to the cultural life and urban identity of Europe.
We always continue to endorse the initial objective of Europan to give shape to the concept of a Europe in which young people can make an innovative contribution to architecture, urban design and landscape, by organizing a federation of European countries around competitions of architectural and urban projects and professional discussions in these spheres of design.
For these reasons:
- We hereby establish scientific and cultural exchanges. The purpose of these exchanges is to facilitate better communication of that which the towns, cities and countries of Europe have in common, so that they can each benefit from the other’s experiences, while maintaining their national, regional and local characteristics;
- We offer young European professionals of architectural and urban design the opportunity to express new ideas in their projects and thereby to contribute to the development and renewal of Europe's cities, and we assist them to implement operations that put these ideas into practice;
- In our undertakings, we work in partnership with European towns and cities which are seeking innovative urban responses to changing lifestyles;
- We wish to extend the scope of Europan’s ideas beyond the organizing countries, and encourage and invite other European countries, which are not yet able to organize a competition, to join our organization in an associate capacity;
- We hereby decide to start an tewlfth session of Europan on the generic theme of: The Adaptable City, Inserting Urban Rhythms.
In accordance with these objectives, and in order to ensure their fulfilment, we undertake:
- to guarantee the quality of our organization on a national and European scale, of the teams and the resources of the executive secretariats, in order to ensure that the competitions and events are properly conducted, in keeping with the rules, decisions and actions of the General Assembly and the Council;
- to guarantee the organizing countries the financial stability of the European organization by paying the subscriptions in the amounts agreed and on the due dates, and by paying interest on any late payments;
- to guarantee that the sites proposed for the competitions (1 for each associate country and 2 or more for each organizing country) comply with the rules set by the General Assembly (compliance with the theme, official undertakings, potential for implementation, quality of information and of documents provided);
- to guarantee publicity for the competition and promotion of the prize-winning projects;
- to guarantee the quality and status of jury members and the proper conditions for the working of the juries;
- to guarantee that competition documents are translated into the agreed languages;
- to guarantee support and assistance for prize-winners, irrespective of their nationality, so that they are engaged in an implementation and/or design process based on the ideas contained in their projects;
- to guarantee cities and developers, contracting authorities, that the ideas, designs and implementations of prizewinning projects meet the requirements for the Europan 11 competition sites;
- to guarantee payment of the prizes within the established timeframes.
Europan 12 in 10 points
Questions on rules
Ask your questions on the rules here
Questions on rules
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Fr. 2 June 2023
Deadline for submitting questions
Fr. 16 June 2023
Deadline for answers
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Please ask questions on rules in the Rules section.
If your question does not receive any answer in 10 days, check the FAQ to make sure the answer does not appear under another label or email the secretariat concerned by the question (national secretariat for the sites, European secretariat for the rules).