Urban Spaces Challenge

Communal Pavilion

In a time when our cities are increasingly shaped by individualism, digital immersion and indoor isolation, social disconnection is on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, loneliness and social disconnection has become a serious public health concern, with mental and physical health impacts comparable to smoking. In such a world, the spaces where we gather, and how we gather, matter more than ever.

The Urban Spaces challenge invites creatives to reflect on the value of human connections, and the role design can play in restoring it to our everyday lives. As the indoor-driven lifestyle often pulls us apart, public spaces become crucial to draw us back together, spaces that foster presence, interaction and shared experience. In this six-day challenge, we explore shade as more than a shelter from the sun: as a spatial gesture that sets the stage for connection. Shade becomes a tool to create moments of pause, rest, play and reconnection with place, with nature and with one another.