Switzerland’s culture of organizing architecture competitions to attribute public mandates is a fundamental practice for the evolution of reflections on architecture, urbanism and construction. Open and fair competitions allow new talents to emerge and tackle the environmental, urban and social challenges of today and tomorrow. Innovation is a natural result of this system, influencing the quality of the cities and people’s daily lives.

However, the inner workings of architecture competitions are not necessarily known to the general public. The event aims at filling the gap and exchanging on opening architecture competitions and Mandats d’Études Parallèles (MEPs) with citizens. The panels will allow for a reflection on the role of citizens in shaping the city and presents examples of competitions integrating the city and its users.

This event is organized next to the exhibition in Geneva which is on display from 15 April to 2 May at the Sicli Pavilion. It will then travel to Rio de Janeiro, opening to the public from 17 July to 15 October 2021.