WINNER

THE PARLIAMENT OF CINKARNA

Project Description by Team: The parliament is formed out of the necessity to decontaminate the soil, but also to rethink our approach towards the land, including its flora and fauna as well as its significance for Celje and its people. It consists of the local agents which are affected by the pollution and the measurements of cleaning as well as the future development.
As a reverence point to approach the restoration and densification of the project area, the declaration of the “Parliament of Cinkarna” aims to establish flourishing symbioses of reflecting the needs and desires of the different local agents. To approach the restoration and densification of the project area four major challenges are tackled: mitigate the existing pollution, allow careful densification, establishing long term habitats and communities of various species, mediate human and non-human presences

Jury Statement: „The jury values a very strong message of collaboration and storytelling of the project. Although some other projects raise similar themes and ideas, this project stands out because it successfully combines different topics and ideas and takes them a step further. The project shows a tremendous amount of optimism and hope about the potential of incremental change. [...] One of the outstanding values of this project is also the recognition of a legal and procedural framework that is needed to develop such a complex site. This aspect is further reinforced by the proposal to base further development on active participation of the inhabitants without excluding the “voiceless” actors such as animals and nature itself.“

Team Statement: "We know each other from working in the same office in Vienna and already had different involvements with Europan before we decided to combine our international backgrounds and individual specialisations. We share the idea of a respectful urban design approach, which derives from an understanding of the local situation.
For the challenging task on a contaminated site in Celje, we found that we have to widen our human-centred perspective to include non-human agents such as plants, animals, the soil and the rivers, too. For unpredictable planning tasks it is important to develop a strong story which allows multiple stakeholders to identify with, but at the same time to define a clear basic framework.
As the project builds on the ongoing planning processes by the local authorities, we are looking forward to work together with the municipality of Celje and get a closer insight of the wishes and needs of the local human and non-human population in the following  process.“