www.buildingsandcities.org/phd-video-awards/gallery-2023.html
AWARDS! 2023 Video Challenge
Congratulations to the winners of the Video Challenge who displayed creativity, vitality and good communication skills to explain the significance of their research: "Addressing Grand Challenges".
Congratulations to the all the entrants of the "Addressing Grand Challenges" Video Challenge who displayed creativity, vitality and good communication skills to explain the significance of their research. The three awards for the 2023 Video Challenge go to...
OUTSTANDING VIDEO (€600 prize)
HeatWatch: Building Resilience to Heatwaves and Extreme Heat
Creator: Federico TARTARINI, University of Sydney, AU
EXCELLENT VIDEO (€400 prize)
Designing a Healthcare Built Environment That Cares for All Children
Creator: Yalin LU, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, US
PEOPLE'S VOTE (€400 prize)
Localising Retail Spaces: Uniting Global Brands with Local Communities
Creator: Amani ALAALI, Ahlia University, Bahrain
GALLERY OF OTHER ENTRANTS
The theme of the 2023 Video Challenge was "Addressing Grand Challenges" (read more). Postdocs explained the significance of their research in a 2-minute video. Collectively and individually, these videos are a rich celebration of emerging, next generation built environment research.
African Cross-Border Residents' declining Quality of Life
Creator: Deborah Ojo
Urban Bridge and Quay Wall Innovation project (Urbiquay) in Amsterdam
Creator: Sergio Alvarado Vazquez
Addressing Grand Challenges in the embodied effects of buildings
Creator: Yihan Wang
Occupant Well-being through (Day)lighting
Creator: Marshal Maskarenj
Hatfield Digital Twin City
Creator: Taiwo Afinowi
Understanding Transport Behavior through the Lens of Mobility Crisis
Creator: Zahra Zarabi
Sustaining Our World: The Role of Dams, Sediment, and the Climate Change
Creator: Behnam Balouchi
Game-based planning
Creator: Micael Sousa
Co-Designing of Public Spaces by Citizen Design Science Workshops : Karsiyaka, Izmir
Creator: Pelin Ozden
Thank you!
First and foremost, our deep thanks to the participants who invested much time, thought and energy to create a 2-minute video explaining the implications of their research. A formidable task! We are enriched by all your efforts to share your emerging research that will undoubtedly shape our future. We hope this process helped you to hone your communication skills and strategies. Each of you has created a unique description that conveys much about your thinking and your approach to life.
The Outstanding and Excellent videos were selected by a diverse group of 5 judges (Richard Lorch, Andreas Klee, Chiara Tagliaro, Rajan Rawal & Rick Diamond). Thank you for watching all the videos and your rich feedback.
The Video Challenge was developed by Buildings & Cities (B&C) and the Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association (ARL). We extend our thanks to our steering group: Kareem Buyana (Makerere University, UG), Rick Diamond (University of California, Berkeley, US), Virginia Gori (University College London, UK), Sila Varis Husar (Slovak University of Technology, SK), Andreas Klee (ARL, DE), Richard Lorch (Buildings & Cities, UK), Carolin Pleines (ARL, DE), Freya Rasmussen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO), Rajan Rawal (CEPT Research and Development Foundation, IN) and Chiara Tagliaro (Politecnico di Milano, IT).
Latest Commentaries
Remote Sensing for Urban Development Policies
At the 2026 Sustainable Buildings and Construction Summit Magnus Andersson, David Muthui & Reza Roodaki (Malmö University) argued that remote sensing should be a core evidence infrastructure for sustainable urban governance. Satellite derived and geospatial analysis can observe and monitor urban expansion, densification, land consumption, building form and material demand across jurisdictions and over time. A shift from two-dimensional to three-dimensional sensing and analysis provides new data to inform policies for housing, land-use efficiency, disaster exposure, public space, resource efficiency and resilient construction.
Disaster Reconstruction: Practitioner Insights Improve Outcomes
Regan Potangaroa (Auckland University of Technology - AUT), Kelvin Zuo (Massey University), Suzanne Wilkinson (AUT) explain why experience-led knowledge from the field, when triangulated with contemporaneous documentation, can constitute evidence for understanding post-disaster reconstruction systems. People working within reconstruction environments (engineers, builders, logisticians and community actors) provide crucial observations about how reconstruction systems function in practice, particularly supply chains, material flows, procurement and governance in post-disaster rebuilding. Integrating this knowledge can lead to better outcomes.