2ND PLACE FOR ARCHITECTURE TEAM'S ENTRY IN NATIONAL LEVEL OF 'URBAN REVITALIZATION OF MASS HOUSING' DESIGN COMPETITION ORGANIZED BY UN-HABITAT

UN-Habitat is promoting a new urban planning paradigm that calls for planning in advance at the scale of expected development of cities with a better integration of urban uses - housing, business, retail, recreation, education, agricultural, social and cultural activities, amongst others, in an environmentally sustainable manner. The aim of this paradigm shift is to achieve adequate urban densities to minimize the impact of urban sprawl, improve mobility and reduce greenhouse emissions and pollution through decreased motorized traffic, increased social interaction, and boosted local economic development. The ultimate goal is to attain the social, economic, environmental and cultural sustainability of cities.
"Overall mass housing in today's world does not conform to the norms of sustainable urbanism. Given the magnitude of the existing characteristics above and the continuation of mass housing trends in some places today, there is an urgent need to address these challenges now"- keeping this challenge in mind, UN-Habitat launched this International Competition in September 2013 and the final winners were announced in April 2014. The evaluation was divided in National, Regional and Global level.
97 teams from 35 countries took part in the competition. The entry from a team of students of  Department of Architecture, AIUB  won the Second place in National Level of International Design Competition " Urban Revitalization of Mass Housing" organized by UN-Habitat. The first position in this level was awarded to a team from URP Department, BUET, while the third position went to a team from Architecture Discipline, Khulna University.  [http://www.masshousingcompetition.org/results/national ]
The team members were Rahman Kazi Ar- Rafiur and  Farhat Khandoker who were guided by teachers Dilruba Ferdous Shuvra and Farzana Siddiqua.

[http://www.masshousingcompetition.org/results/entry/697]