Avani Essay Prize, 2023, is an essay competition for full-time registered undergraduate students of architecture, planning, and design from around the world.
The Avani Essay Prize is dedicated to fostering intellectual exploration and encouraging students to express their thoughts and ideas through the written word. This year we intend to explore the concept of a "city" that challenges the conventional narratives about its nature and purpose.
Essay Brief:
What is a city? To whom does it belong? When do we call a place
‘city’? Does it have a fixed definition that provides answers to these
questions, or is it a living, complex being ever open to redefinition
and interpretation? The conventional narrative often perceives the
city as either a mechanised powerhouse, where people come to seek
fortune, or as a machine creating ecological disasters with unliveable
environments. But is there a city that exists between these narratives? A city that creates dynamic ecosystems offering refuge, empowerment, and resilience to both human and non-human species?
The essay prize invites rumination upon an alternative narrative that falls between the extremes often associated with cities.
