Reburbia, A Suburban Design Competition
With the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, increasing carbon emissions and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. It is obvious that a change in the American landscape is necessary, which is why Inhabitat has teamed up with Dwell Magazine to launch the REBURBIA design contest.
We know our readers are a smart and innovative bunch, and this is why we are turning to YOU to come up with YOUR vision for a brighter, more sustainable future for the American suburban landscape. Show us how you would re-invent the suburbs. What would a McMansion become if it weren’t a single-family dwelling? How could a vacant big box store be retrofitted for agriculture?
Winners will be showcased in Dwell Magazine, Dwell.com & Inhabitat.com, and will receive $1000 cash prize. For more information on submission, click here.
This is cynical for sure, but this issue is so much more about the ECONOMICS, POLICY, and CULTURE that shapes the MARKET, than it is about design. Suburban development has been so “successful” because property at the periphery is cheap, towns / counties provide development incentives to see their revenue base grow, and the culture places a priority / status on detached living & square footage. Good ARCHITECTURE & URBAN planning generally compromise the prevailing market forces, and get left out of the equation. We all hope competitions like this can be influential, shift the culture, etc. But these often produce pure fantasy, with no consideration of an actual ROI [See Flip-a-Strip], which is key to getting things built in the private market, i.e. suburban housing. To this audience, we might as well propose colonizing Mars. Maybe the winner of this competition should be the one who proposes to Pulte Homes that they should start considering solar orientation, using overhangs, and avoiding west glazing. Then they could market sustainable moves to younger, more eco-conscious buyers.[$] Such an idea may be aiming low, but it may do more than just fall into the oblivion of someone’s sweet portfolio.
Quote from http://www.re-burbia.com/competition-rules:
“By submitting an entry, you grant to Sponsors and their respective successors and assigns an unlimited, worldwide, perpetual license to publish, display, use, exploit, edit the text, adapt, modify, copy, disseminate, post, or dispose of the design, text and other submitted materials online, in print, film, television, or in any other media for editorial, advertising, promotional or other purposes without compensation or notification of any kind to you, except as prohibited by law.”
and
“Entrants shall have no right of approval, no claim to compensation, and no claim [,,,] arising out of any use, blurring, alteration, or use in composite form of their name, likeness, city and state, biographical information, or entry.”
Am I the only one who thinks that these conditions are – even if common – unacceptable? Shouldn’t we at least – if we do open competitions for free – protect our copyright and our rights to protect our work from the above mentioned conditions – which basically include everything from edits of images and text to marketing of our ideas in contexts we are not even notified about? I strongly disagree with this kind of exploitation – even if it’s aimed at students, even if the publication in Dwell magazine brings recognition besides the price money, even if the production of 5 jpegs + text is not much compared to other competitions.
Well said Jakob!
12:34 PM Jul 9th
RT @archdaily: Reburbia, A Suburban Design Competition http://bit.ly/14mGLa
12:43 PM Jul 9th
#architecture Reburbia, A Suburban Design Competition: With the current housing crisis, the sub-pri.. http://bit.ly/QbVNI