The McEwen School of Architecture is challenging Sudbury’s design community to reimagine the city’s downtown core.

Through its Sudbury 2050 — Urban Design Competition, the school is asking participants to think about not only the inclusion of several major proposed infrastructure and cultural construction projects, but also the broader context of the development of the city’s urban centre.

Among those projects are a new library, a relocated art gallery, a new conference and performance centre, new housing for a range of incomes, new uses for the spaces occupied by the city’s railway lines, and a new arena/event centre. Competition entrants are expected to speak to the placement of these projects as part of their vision for the city.

Applicants are also being asked to consider such factors as the broader context of the city itself, including its many parks and nearby lakes, as well as public and Indigenous perspectives. They will also be judged on their responses to issues such as designing for climate change, use of mass timber construction, adaptive reuse of buildings, urban housing and mixed-use developments, green spaces, and cultural spaces.

The competition calls for submissions to include:

• visions for a city with hundreds of lakes, a winter city with a culture driven by Anglophone, Francophone and Indigenous communities,
• visions for an international city, with more than 300 companies exporting intellectual capital and mining products around the world,
• visions that sustain the city’s ability to continue to attract new generations of the best and brightest talent,
• visions that reflect the city’s position as northern Ontario’s leading healthcare research, education and economic engine,
• visions that continue to drive the transformational growth of emerging economic sectors such as mass timber construction and remote, automated, electrified, sustainable mining technologies,
• visions that reflect the transformation of the city from a mining town into a vibrant and diverse economic base, and
• visions that respond to the city’s climate emergency.

There is no cost to enter the competition. Competitors may enter individually, in teams and as companies.

Up to $63,000 in prize money is available, and awards will be presented for best professional entry, best student entry, and the people’s choice.

Submissions are due August 28.

More information is available at sudbury2050.ca.