Mahmoud Farouk Gaber Gaber Sherif
City of the Future
Urban Design Competition
Over the summer of 2022, Take Back The City launched a trailblazing competition, inviting architects and urban planners from all over the world to design a unique, climate-resilient community at the Mackie's site — the largest vacant publicly-owned site in Belfast, in the area of highest housing need.
We asked designers to imagine how this site could be transformed to help communities respond to the cost of living, housing and climate crises in line with a set of principles developed by homeless families. The response was outstanding. The final shortlisted designs are profiled below.
A panel of judges was convened in April/May 2023, and the winning entry has been announced. See here or more details.
The shortlist
To browse the shortlisted Mackie's masterplans, click on the images below. We've received hundreds of comments and votes for favourite designs and the jury has deliberated. See the winning design here.
