The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote environmental activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers. Metropolis saw the need for a new type of competition, one that went beyond the usual beauty pageants for finished projects, a competition that would generate and reward ideas. Metropoliscelebrates the next generation by rewarding imaginative young designers, be they employed by large companies, those striving with their own young firms or on their own, as well as students.

The Next Generation® winners and runners-up are a testament to the success of this mission. Each project recognized has embodied the core values of good design—incorporating systems thinking, sustainability, accessibility, materials exploration, historic relevance, and technology—while forwarding our thinking on what designers can accomplish. The breadth of proposals has been stunning: building projects, urban planning and community building schemes, responsive interior environments, population pressure issues, new materials, ergonomics, product design, social and housing solutions, environmental management, water purity, and waste disposal in crisis situations and so on. The $10,000 prize coupled with the publicity garnered for each chosen project has helped winners and runners up bring their ideas from the drawing board into implementation and production.

Email us: NextGen@metropolismag.com