The 21st century is known for the age of globalization. The process of urbanization in cities, the interaction between people and integration among businesses & society are no longer driven just by local forces. It’s a well-known fact that data-driven technologies are playing a major role in shaping us and the kind of cities we live in today. These forces of technology, for all the good they are doing well to us on one hand and are powerfully speeding up the homogenization of culture in the other.
This force of technology in the world we live in today has been there for quite some time and seems to be unstoppable. Cities have been seen as an incubator for creative ideas and human evolution in the past. However, with our technological evolution, the question one must seek is retaining this distinct identity of a city as an incubator of creative ideas in the next century.
Photo Courtesy of X-POR 
Photo Courtesy of X-POR
Challenge
Not only skyscrapers but, museums, civic center, concert halls, bridges, libraries, opera houses all give cities part of their identity. This makes us ponder, that how do we reclaim our cities to stand out from each other in the next centuries. What are the urban programs that can be useful to the inhabitants and can architecture be an icon instead of an object.
Location
Japan rapidly became the world’s second largest economy but however by the 1990s, Japan’s demographics began stagnating and the workforce was no longer expanding as it did in previous decades. As a countermeasure, the government’s 2018 Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, Japan will allow a greater number of foreign workers into the country, marking a major shift in its immigration stance. How will this affect the already ‘globalizing’ architectural trends of such a culturally rich country?
Photo Courtesy of X-POR 
Photo Courtesy of X-POR
This challenge is a part of X-Plor tri-competition series titled ‘Di-Generic Cities’. X-plor is an exploratory ideas arm of Uni, where participants are exposed to challenges with an entirely new subject / premise in terms of design thinking. X-Plor competitions allow participants learn – analyze – solve, beyond traditional problems and invite fresh design ingenuity to solve them. Source and images Courtesy of X-POR.
- Timeline
- Seed registration date: May 13, 2019
- Last Date of Registration: September 18, 2019
- Submission Deadline: September 28, 2019
- Public Voting begins: September 29, 2019
- Public Voting ends: October 29, 2019
- Result Announcement: November 07, 2019
- Prizes
- Prize pool of worth: 30,000$
- Di-Generic Cities Champion: 10,000$
- Di-generic Tokyo Winner: 2500$
- Di-generic Shanghai Winner: 2500$
- Di-generic Los Angeles Winner: 2500$
- Di-generic Tokyo People’s Choice x 2: 1500$
- Di-generic Shanghai People’s Choice x 2: 1500$
- Di-generic LA People’s Choice x 2: 1500$
- Honourable mention projects x 14: 250$
Photo Courtesy of X-POR Photo Courtesy of X-POR Photo Courtesy of X-POR Photo Courtesy of X-POR 
Cover 
Cover
