KinshipintheCitySeries

Urban loneliness and the built environment

Overview

Between 2018 and 2020 we held three design competitions inspired by our research into urban loneliness and the built environment. We challenged architecture students from ten universities across the UK and Australia to explore ideas for tackling loneliness in the city of the future, using research points from the FSF’s Kinship in the City report.

For each competition, the entrants gathered at the Make studio for a day of workshopping; they then had several weeks to refine their designs before returning to present them to a panel of judges. In 2020 we published a digital compendium showcasing all the entries from this series.

Competition series

This was our first international design challenge, and asked entrants to explore community-centric loneliness interventions that consider Sydney’s urban landscape as well as social and digital trends. The judging panel comprised representatives from the FSF, Make and Lendlease, as well as New South Wales Government Architect and a local architectural journalist.