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    Winning entry targets transport in the battle against urban loneliness

    The latest Future Spaces Foundation student design competition challenged ten teams to design components of place to help combat loneliness and improve social connections in cities.

    Over 45 entrants participated from leading architectural schools and universities across the UK. They came together at Make’s studio in October to begin work on their design responses, and were given several weeks to finalise their proposals before returning in November to present them to a panel of judges.

    The winning team was from the University of Bath, with an entry called ‘Commute, Compete, Connect’. Congratulations to team members Abi Sayers, Justin Smallwood, Raluca Turcu and Julian Wong!

    Their idea centred on a London-wide social quiz, implemented by device interventions on public transport, to allow people to connect and inject fun and interactivity into the daily commute. Commuters compete individually, as a team or by bus/Tube carriage, united in a positive game.

    The judges were impressed by the amount of detail provided about the technology and engineering behind the design, particularly the details for transforming a London bus. They also praised the team’s presentation skills, which brought the concept to life and convinced the judges that it could be workable.

    A big thank you to Peter Greaves (FSF and Make) who presided over proceedings, and to our judges: Lee Mallet (Urbik), Clare Hebbes (LLDC), Nicolo Bencini (BuroHappold) and Imogen Webb (Make).