FAQ

Can students under 18 years old participate?

Can students who are under 18 years old participate?

Yes, provided that the candidate is currently enrolled in an academic degree program (undergraduate, Master’s, or PhD) during the 2025–2026 (or 2026) academic year and submits the Consent Form for Minors (under 18).

Key Competition Info

What is C40?

C40 is a network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. C40 represents 700+ million people and one-quarter of the global economy. The current Chair of the C40 is Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Michael Bloomberg serves as President of the Board. To learn more visit the website www.c40.org.

What is Students Reinventing Cities?

Students Reinventing Cities is C40's global competition for young people to redesign urban areas into green & thriving neighbourhoods. Through the competition, cities call on young people to share their ideas to make our public spaces better, greener and more inclusive.

How does the competition work?

Each participating C40 will identify one priority urban area for students & young people to reimagine, responding to city climate objectives and local priorities.

Interested participants form teams and work together to develop a proposal to reimagine their selected site/city to make it more green, people-centred & climate-resilient. A jury will analyse all proposals received and will select the winning team, who will receive winning prizes.

What is the competition timeline?

29 October 2025 | Competition launch
18 March 2026* | Deadline to register your team*
28 May 2026*| Deadline to submit your project proposal*
June–July 2026 | Juries comprised of C40 and city experts will assess all projects
August–September 2026 | Announcement of winning projects & city-specific prizes

*Timelines may vary for certain cities. Please refer to each city's site page to verify the timeline.

Will any webinars or training sessions be offered?

Yes. Cities will offer specific webinars exploring their selected site in more detail, offering interested participants the opportunity to ask any questions. These will take place between January and February 2026. Some cities may also offer site visits or in-person events for teams that are based locally.

C40 will offer a workshop for registered teams in April 2026 exploring the Green & Thriving approach and how teams can integrate it into their proposals.

How many winning teams will there be?

There will be one winning team/ project per city. Some cities may also award 'special mentions' to highly commendable projects.

What will winning teams receive?

Receive coverage in local and global communication campaigns (incl. social media, press releases, and the C40 Reinventing Cities website)
Receive an official certificate signed by the Mayor of the City and the Executive Director of C40.

Additional awards may be given at the city's discretion. Further information about any additional awards offered by each city can be in each city’s Site Form.

Participation Eligibility

Who can take part?

Current university students of any age, any degree level, and any discipline can participate, provided they are enrolled in the 2025-2026 (or 2026) academic year.
Any young person who is not a current student can also participate, provided they are aged 18-28.
Teams must comprise at least one current university student. “University(ies)” refers to research institutions, schools, colleges and the entire academic community in higher education, above the high-school level.

Can students of any degree participate?

Yes. Students studying any university degree (undergraduate, Master, PhD) can participate, provided they are enrolled in the 2025-2026 (or 2026) academic year.
The competition encourages participants to develop mixed-discipline teams, drawing on knowledge from a wide range of studies. Teams may include participants from multiple departments such as architecture, urbanism, environment, engineering, real estate development, sociology, economy, and the arts, among other fields.

Can students who are under 18 years old participate?

Yes, provided that the candidate is currently enrolled in an academic degree program (undergraduate, Master’s, or PhD) during the 2025–2026 (or 2026) academic year and submits the Consent Form for Minors (under 18).

How many people can be in my team?

Teams must be composed of at least two people. There is no limit to the maximum number of people that can be in a team.

Do I need to live in the City that I am submitting a project for?

No. Students Reinventing Cities is an international competition, and any eligible participant is welcome to apply, regardless of their city of residence.

Can our team have an advisor?

Yes. Having a faculty or external advisor is recommended, but not mandatory.

Advisors and external experts cannot directly develop the project or any of the required documents, but can the team throughout the process.

Details of the advisor (name, profession, contact information) must be provided in the Team Form submitted in the Registration process.

Participating Cities & Sites

Which cities are participating?

Find the full list of cities participating in the 'Sites in Competition' page.

How much information is provided about each site?

A Site Form is provided for each city. This is prepared by the city; it will summarise the context of the site and detail the city’s objectives for redevelopment. The Site Form may provide further information regarding submission requirements, such as language requirements and any additional awards given by the city. An online folder, the 'Dataroom', is also available. It contains relevant documentation related to the site, such as maps, photos, and planning documents.

You can access both the Dataroom and Site Form on each city’s site page.

When will more information about the sites become available?

More information about the sites & cities in competition will be made available on the ‘Sites in Competition' page at the end of November 2025. To stay up to date with new information about your city of interest, please sign up to the mailing list by entering your email in the 'Keep Me Posted' box on each site page.

Registration

How do I sign-up/register?

Firstly, click on the site page for the site/city you would like to reimagine

On each site page, there is a button in the top-right-hand corner that says “Register Your Team”.
Click on this, fill out the questions, and attach your completed Team Form to register your team.

Where do I find the Team Form?

For your chosen site, the Team Form will be available both under the 'Documentation' tab on the site page, as well as in the site Dataroom.

Within this form, teams will specify the expertise each member brings to the team and their university programmes. The main team point of contact should also be identified.

Can I change my team after registration?

Yes. You can alter the composition (size and members) of your team after registering. Teams will be required to provide a new Team Form when submitting their project; in this, you can indicate if any changes have been made to your team. However, after the Registration phase, it is expected that the main team point of contact will remain the same.

When is the registration deadline?

For most cities, the deadline for registering your team is Wednesday 18 March 2026 at 5 PM UTC.
Some cities have a different registration deadline. Please check each site page to verify the timeline.

Submitting Your Project

When is the deadline to submit my project proposal?

For most cities, the deadline to submit your project is Thursday 28 May 2026 at 5 PM UTC.
Some cities have a different registration deadline. Please check each site page to verify the timeline.

How do I submit a project?

Teams must follow the same process as they did when registering.

On each site page, there will be a button in the top-right-hand corner that says “Submit Your Project”. This will replace the “Register Your Team” button.
Click on this, fill out the questions, and attach your proposal as a compressed file that does not exceed 1.5 GB.

What should my project proposal consist of?

Please read the Regulations Document for a detailed breakdown. In summary, your project proposal should include the following main documents:

Completed Team Form
Presentation of the project
Graphic presentation
Implementation plan

What format should I submit my project in?

All four of the “Project Proposal” documents must be uploaded in a single .zip compressed file that must not exceed 1.5 GB.

How will my proposal be used?

Your project will be securely stored and shared anonymously with a jury for assessment. Students Reinventing Cities reserves the right to project images submitted by the teams for public communication purposes.

Jury & Assessment of Projects

Who will analyse my proposal?

For each city, a jury that will be composed of representatives from the city, C40 and may include external international experts. The composition of the juries will be made public.

What is the assessment criteria?

Quality of the team and of their approach to developing the project. The jury will assess the different expertise in the team and the approach used to develop the project. They will specifically value multidisciplinary teams and teams that engage with stakeholders or undertake an innovative approach to collaboration in the development of their project.
Quality of design and relevance of the project to the specifics of the site. The jury will assess the team’s understanding and response to the local context and the city’s expectations and objectives. The quality of the design proposed will be evaluated against the extent to which it responds to the site-specific context.
Solutions that integrate the Green & Thriving Neighbourhoods Approach. The jury will assess the quality and the innovative nature of the proposed solutions in creating a green & people-centred area. Guidance on how to integrate this framework into your proposals can be found here. Solutions will also be considered in terms of their replicability across the city and the world.
Feasibility of the project. The jury will assess the team’s Implementation Plan and evaluate the feasibility of the project, against city-specific considerations, such as cost, technical elements, compliance with local rules and broader project timelines.

How does the competition ensure a fair & transparent assessment process?

The competition complies with principles of anonymity, transparency, equal treatment, and non-discrimination. The jury will therefore not have access to the following information: the name of the team members and of the universities they are part of or the name of the advisor.

When will I know the outcome of the jury assessment?

Jury assessments are expected to take place in June–July 2026. Teams are expected to know the outcome of their application in August-September 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions