The 7^th European Urban and Regional Planning Awards 2008

Deadline extended to 27 March - get your entry in now!

Invitation to Nominate

The European Council of Spatial Planners (ECTP) is pleased to invite nominations for the 7^th European Urban and Regional Planning Awards 2008.

The closing date for Nominations is 14^th March 2008

Planning Awards

The European Urban and Regional Planning Awards, conferred by the European Council of Spatial Planners, give recognition to planning strategies, schemes or developments which make an outstanding contribution to the quality of life in urban and rural regions of Europe.

The aims of the Awards Scheme are to:

• demonstrate to the general public, and to the planning profession in particular, successful and innovative planning projects and developments through which the quality of life of European citizens is enhanced and improved, socially, economically and environmentally.
• promote the views, ideas and Vision of the ECTP on the future of European cities and regions as expressed in the New Charter of Athens to create and enhance conditions favourable to the promotion of sustainable development.
• illustrate the diversity and wide scope of planning activity today: in regeneration of urban and other areas, economics and leisure, transport and traffic management, as well as promoting economic and social cohesion, enhancing cultural identity, to mention but a few.
• demonstrate clearly the advantages of the participatory planning process, facilitated and enabled by professional planners: how the co-operation between and the direct participation of stakeholders, Local Authorities, development agencies and interested citizens, can have a synergistic effect of benefit to the whole planning process.
• illustrate the growing significance of the concept of "territorial cohesion" and explain through programmes, plans, concepts and best practices how planners and other stakeholders in spatial development reach across borders to formulate joint strategies for tackling problems in an interconnected world.

The scope of the subjects to be considered for the awards embraces published plans and studies, projects involving community participation, and significant physical development, either at a trans-national, national, trans-regional, regional scale or at a local scale. The themes or topics are freely chosen, they do not have to be considered of "European relevance" to be submitted.

Assessment Criteria

To evaluate the nominations, a sovereign panel of qualified judges representing the planning profession will be nominated by the ECTP. This panel will take into account one or several of the following criteria:

• application of the principles of sustainable development, for the enhancement of the environment and any recognisable social and economic benefit resulting from the achievement in terms of human well-being, greater safety or greater efficiency;
• the originality and innovation of the achievement or approach;
• the quality of the professional work involved in design, in the development of planning concepts or in the application of planning techniques;
• the extent to which the scheme may serve as a reference for other work elsewhere or as a base for the development of further related schemes;
• the role played by the planner as enabler or co-ordinator and the demonstration of the added value brought to the project through the involvement of planners.

National preselection process

National Planning Institutes and Associations of the ECTP are encouraged to nominate entries which represent the best practice within their country. Nominated projects can be the winners or runners up of national award schemes or schemes which have undergone other forms of selection through the national organisations.

Entries may be submitted only by the national Planning Institutes and Associations of the ECTP. Nominations from individuals are not eligible and individuals wishing to have projects, etc. considered should submit their nominations to the local selection process as early as possible.

Entry Requirements

The submitted study, scheme or development must have been approved or completed before the closing date of nomination.

Nominations should be accompanied by (in both hard copy and electronic format):

1. a detailed written description of the entry in English (a French translation will be requested in case the entry is shortlisted as winner or for special merits).

The description must be no longer than four A4 pages including the title, tables and references. Papers must be in DOC format (Microsoft Word document) using Times New Roman 12pt type for headings and titles and Times New Roman 11pt for type all other text. Please do not use headers or footers in the paper. The top, left, right and bottom margins should all be set to 1 inch (2.5 cm).

2. two A1 colour panels on a rigid backing, providing clear explanation, detailed location and illustration in English (and eventually French).
3. One CD-ROM containing an electronic version of: a) both panels complete, b) each individual picture, image, caption and logo used for the panels, c) the written description supplied by the pre-selected candidates, as indicated in 1) above.
4. a named contact of the planners - the team or the team leader - actually responsible for the planning input into the selected project, a named contact of the local authority or agency which financed the work and the name of the chief officer (e.g chief executive or mayor) and the chief planning officer.
5. the bank evidence of payment of the entry fees.

The national Planning Institutes and Associations of the ECTP will make the first selection from the entries and send those chosen to the International Jury not later than 14^th March 2008 (last date of receipt of application).

All nominations sent to the International Jury by the national association should use the official nomination form available on the ECTP website including:

1. a citation as to why the nominated project is considered outstanding by that organisation and thus worthy of recognition at a European level.
2. named contacts at the national Planning Institute or Association responsible for the national selection and of the national rapporteur who will give objective answers to any professional questions about the national selection.
3. an electronic version of both the panels and the texts supplied by the pre-selected candidats as indicated above.

The Awards

The European Council of Spatial Planners will present Certificates of Achievement to the winners. Awards will be given to those entries considered outstanding according to the assessment criteria.

The Awards will be made to the authority or body responsible for the commissioning or production of the scheme and to the professional planners involved.

The Award ceremony will be held in the Autumn of 2008 in Dublin at a venue to be announced, to coincide with the ECTP General Assembly. This event achieved high media profile on the previous occasions and it is anticipated that the event will achieve similar coverage.

The ownership of results of the Awards shall lie with ECTP and their publication shall be exclusively managed by the Executive Committee of ECTP.

Entry fees

Each entry going forward to the international stage must be accompanied by evidence of payment of the entry fees. These vary according to the country of origin of the scheme or plan as shown in the table below.

Payments must be done with bank transfer before 14^th March 2008 to:

ING Banque Agence Bruxelles-Gare Centrale - 1000 Bruxelles (B)

Account number (IBAN): BE 56 310-0070812-88

Account name: Conseil Européen des Urbanistes

SWIFT/BIC code: BBRUBEBB

Reference: Awards 2008 + name of candidate + country (i.e. Awards 2008 - Masterplan XYZ - Spain)

Further Information

For further information about the past series and for nomination forms please contact the national associations and institutes of planners belonging to ECTP.

Addresses to be found here or contact the secretariat at: secretariat@ceu-ectp.org