Design Future London encompasses the many ways young Londoners can be inspired to develop their city as one where everyone thrives. The challenge invites students to not only learn about green careers in the built environment but also understand how the built environment impacts our daily lives now and in the future. We were thrilled to celebrate the 650 young people who participated to share their vision for their city from over 40 schools, colleges and universities at City Hall with partners and the Greater London Authority. See more images from the event here!

This is the second year that Schools Reinventing Cities has been part of the Design Future London program to gather student ideas for their city. Students were requested to think about their local neighbourhood and propose ideas to make it safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous for everyone. Using Minecraft Education, students shared their designs and this year, entries will feed into the development of priorities for the next London Plan as part of the Planning for London program. 

Excitingly, for the first time, university students got involved in the challenge through C40’s Students Reinventing Cities program. Teams were tasked with redesigning the Pool of London into a greener, more accessible commercial hub. The site's huge commercial & recreational potential led the area to be defined as a ‘Key Areas of Change’ in London’s City Plan for 2036. Students were challenged to rethink how could be used, to add value to London without detracting from its many assets.

15  teams across 7 universities got involved in the challenge, with a range of backgrounds in Urban Planning, Environmental Studies, Economics, Computing and many more. Teams attended an enriching technical workshop at Gensler's London Office to gain insight into developing their projects. 

The Awards Event

After hearing the finalist student teams present their ideas, awards were presented to the finalists by:

• Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe, 
• Deputy Executive Director of C40 Cities Kevin Austin, 
• Architect & Presenter George Clarke, 
• Lucy Edwards, Rachael Box and Tracey Jacobs from Local Village Network and Ian Mulcahey and Diana Lee, Principals at Gensler. 

Congratulations to the winners! Learn about each project on the Design Future London website 

• Runner Up - 5-11 age group – Leyton Mega Makers 
• Winner - 5-11 age group – Team VW 
• Runner Up - 11-15 age group – BLT & Partners 
• Winners – 11-15 age group – Vision Design 
• Runner Up - 16-18 age group – H&A
• Winners – 16-18 age group – Teenz
• Runner-up – Local Village Network - Mentored Programme – Wildflower Development
• Winner – Local Village Network - Mentored Programme – The Bubble Building
• Runner Up - Students Reinventing Cities - Greener London Alliance 
• Winner - Students Reinventing Cities - Spoon of London