The Winners of the Photo Contest have been announced
To mark the launch of ARL's interactive knowledge and communication platform, we ran a free, non-commercial photo competition from March to July 2021, seeking participants' personal views on how spaces change over time - a multifaceted topic on which we received personal impressions, illustrations and ideas, but also criticism and perspectives on contradictions!
Just like the platform, the photos address the diverse iusses and challenges with many spatial implications: global challenges such as climate change, the energy transition and demographic change have a strong influence on the development of rural as well as urban areas.
The rural exodus, migration from cities, post-growth economies and recently the Covid-19 pandemic are transforming previously familiar spaces.
For their entries the participants could chose between the following categories:
- Environment, energy and climate change
- Demographic and socio-economic change
- Changing spaces during Covid-19
A big thank you goes to all participants who impressed us with the high number of stunning photos!
The winners are
- Category 1
- 1st place: Kathrin Prenger-Berninghoff
- 2nd place: Kevium Alvarado
- 3rd place: Esteban Torres
- Category 2
- 1st place: May East
- 2nd place: Petra Schneider
- 3rd place: Esteban Torres
- Category 3
- 1st place: Daniel Münderlein
- 2nd place: Petra Schneider
- 3rd place: Daniel Münderlein
- And a special prize for aesthetics goes to Juliane Ribbeck-Lampel!
The jury's selection process
The photos were evaluated by an international jury in three categories:
- relevance to the topic as it was represented in the photographs,
- clarity of expression
- as well as photographic quality.
Based on the points awarded by the jury, the highest rated images in each category the members discussed and weighed between different aspects in a jury session.
Of particular importance was that both the content conveyed and the photographic quality were convincing. Regarding the content the jury members discussed their spontaneous interpretations of the pictures and their bethinking of the pictures based on the other members interpretations and the captions, respectively.
The jury evaluated the photographic quality with regard to the perspective taken, light, composition and the overall aesthetic impression. They discussed whether these are artistically well realized and emotionally catching. In addition to the evaluation of the artistic and documentary implementation, another important factor for the ultimate ranking was which images had the strongest overall effect.
About the Jury
Dr. Sonja Deppisch is Member of the Academy of Territorial Devlopment in the Leibniz Association. Currently, she leads at HafenCity University Hamburg (Germany) the research theme "Global Change and Land-Use Strategies" and her research focusses on urban and regional resilience, their integration into land-use planning and development as well as how planning can deal with climate as well as environmental change. As photographer she works on artistic as well as documentary long-term projects which relate the personal and / or the landscape with socio-political as well as historical developments.
Prof. Maroš Finka Member of the ARL, president of Association of European Schools of Planning, professor at STU in Bratislava and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, expert at the Ministry for Investment, Regional Development and Innovations of SR, co-chairman of the SPA-CE.net. His research focuses on European spatial planning, urban development and regeneration, he is author or co-author of 41 books, more than 200 published papers, including two books on spatial composition and interpretative aspects of architectural language.
Dr. Maria Partalidou is an Associate Professor of Rural Sociology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Passionate about documentaries and photography she has used storytelling and images (photovoice) as a qualitative field research tool; as well as an educational tool for her students. She has published several papers on the social construction of rurality in the new era of mass media communication and on imaged based symbols produced and re-produced by urban dwellers rooted in the rural idyll.
Dr. Martin Sondermann is a cultural geographer and researcher in spatial planning. He works at ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association (HQ), where he is Head of Academic Section I "Society and Culture". His scientific work focuses on planning cultures, urban green spaces and democratic spatial development. On his expeditions, he collects photographs of urban design, lost places, alternative areas and street art. In academic teaching he is using photographs to discuss physical artefacts of planning cultures and to reflect upon societal meanings of places.
