2023 The Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize Applications Due January 15

We are pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2023 Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize. The prize is a collaboration between the Princeton Urban Imagination Center at Princeton School of Architecture and Places Journal, and seeks to encourage ambitious public scholarship in the design disciplines. This year’s iteration will focus on the theme of SOLIDARITIES.

This is a capacious theme, touching on organized movements for justice and mutual support at national, regional, and metropolitan scales. Solidarities might be understood to shape struggles for environmental justice; or the development of cooperative housing and other modes of resistance to what planner Samuel Stein has called “the real-estate state”; or the resurgence of unions and related forms of collective bargaining, within and beyond the fields of design, construction, and planning. Other proposals might consider the impacts of social media on collective action; the legal enfranchisement of nonhuman actors; and the empowerment of community stakeholders in planning and development decisions. Though “solidarity” is often invoked in anti-capitalist contexts, we also welcome proposals that consider solidarities on a spectrum, from progressive to conservative and inclusive to exclusionary.

Launched in 2020, the inaugural Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize focused on the theme of “mobility justice.” The recipient was Shoshana Goldstein, whose article explored migration as an intensifier of inequity across India, during and beyond the Covid pandemic.

Award Details

The winner of the Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize will receive an honorarium of $7,500 to produce a major work of public scholarship for publication in Places Journal. The prize is open to university-based or independent authors.

Application Requirements

• An up-to-date CV.

• A sample of published writing, ideally a work of public scholarship.

• A brief proposal of no more than 500 words, describing your prospective article.

• A cover letter outlining the significance of the proposed topic.

Application Deadline

Applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time on January 15, 2023. Applications should be submitted by email to editors@placesjournal.org; please put “Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize” in the subject line. Writing samples that exceed the file size of Gmail (or other email) attachments should be submitted via a file-sharing system referencing the same email address.

Selection Process

Applications will be reviewed and the winner selected by members of the Princeton | Places Urban Imagination Prize Committee at the Urban Imagination Center. The editors of Places will serve on the committee, and we strongly encourage applicants to browse the journal and to read our statement on public scholarship in advance of submission. The winner will be announced by March 30, 2023.