How do we design post-COVID-19 cities that enrich nature? In January 2021, the Belmont Forum funded international research–innovation consortium, IFWEN, launched The Post COVID-19 City Challenge in collaboration with Bob Hendrikx and MIT’s Pandemic Response Colab team, to answer this question. Now the challenge has ended and our idea was selected!
What will our cities look like Post-COVID-19? The answer is, they’ll be exactly as we design them. Now is the time to start thinking about that design. Post-COVID-19 City Challenge was a call to action that challenges urbanists, innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, researchers, scientists, and various other types of urban practitioners and planners from around the world to reset our thinking on how sustainable, resilient, liveable and just cities can be built for urban futures that nurture human-nature relationships.
The Belmont Forum received 25 submissions from around the world that contributed ideas and innovation pitches from diverse disciplines including natural sciences and urban planning. Our team won the Innovative Thinker Fellowships: winners chosen by the judging panel will be select innovations and their idea will be published on the Global Collective Intelligence Map in the final publication of the IFWEN project team book and be included on the accompanying online innovation map. Winners will also be announced and receive recognition at the TNOC Festival ( The Nature of Cities Festival) .
Winners of The Post-COVID-19 City Innovative Thinker Fellowships
- Submission Title: RETHINK. RESTART. RECOVER. RESILIENT – Post-COVID19 in Amsterdam – Author: Eva Hoppmanns
- Submission Title: Renaturing marginal public spaces for people and ecosystems – Author: Davide Geneletti
- Submission Title: Being and belonging: The portable urban classroom – Author: Thomas Beery
- Submission Title: Hackathon challenges: innovative solutions for Green Care initiatives – Author: Georgia Bertagna
- Submission Title: Engaging citizens to recycle while strengthening environmental leaders – Author: Marina Giannini