Cool Abu Dhabi Challenge

The Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) of Abu Dhabi invites you to participate in a global creative ideas competition to improve outdoor thermal comfort in public spaces by mitigating the impact of the Urban Heat Island Effect in the city. The competition is open to all; but is specifically looking for designers, architects, engineers, landscape architects, material scientists, educators, researchers, students, artists and/or inter-disciplinary teams from across the globe, to contribute. The winning entries will represent the most original and innovative ideas that attempt to reduce Heat Island Effect in a prototypical urban site in Abu Dhabi through design interventions or material and scientific innovations. Entries are not limited to architectural design interventions and are encouraged to work across scales, technologies, systems, and materials.

The DMT, alongside industry-leading experts in sustainable design and architecture, will select 10 of the most original and innovative design ideas for public spaces that will help minimise the impact of climate change, or new design methodologies that attempt to reduce the urban heat island effect in a prototypical public spaces in the Emirate. H.E. Mohamed Al Khadar Al Ahmed, Executive Director of the Strategic Affairs Sector at the DMT stated: “As part of our Ghadan 21 efforts to support sustainable urbanization and climate intervention in public spaces, I am delighted to invite innovative thinkers from around the world to submit their designs to the “Cool Abu Dhabi” competition. Entrants are invited to produce climate remediation solutions by submitting designs that demonstrate a high-level understanding of innovative engineering and science.

While maximising passive means is preferred, rational use of active and mechanical systems for public space comfort is also strongly encouraged. Please see "coolabudhabi.com" for detailed competition information.