Since 1988, the Europan competition has been launched simultaneously in different European countries, inviting participants to develop a common subject drawn from urban situations proposed by some European cities. Architectural and urban ideas competition followed by some realizations, Europan is a contest for young architects, urban and landscape planners from all over Europe.

As State Chief Architect and Urbanist, permanent secretary for the plan for urbanism, construction and architecture (PUCA) Hélène Peskine, author of this special issue’s foreword, points out:

A Europan ‘school’ is in evidence. Europan, remains more than ever a passport, a guide and a label, in short, a guarantee of quality that is recognised by the State and local authorities. The productive cities theme, chosen for the fourteenth session, has thus prompted very original responses about new economic urban models, by blazing a trail for an unprecedented hybridation of urban, agricultural, industrial and landscape functions. Europan, thirty years ahead of its time?

Read now the editorial of this new special issue.

AA Perspectives “Europan 14, designing productive cities”, available in bookshops since December 2018, 64 pages, 10€, to order here.