22nd St reGENERATE Ideas Challenge

March 4, 2024: reGENERATE winners have been announced! Thank you to everyone who showed interest and participated, and congratulations to the winners! Visit beheardnewwest.ca/22ndst for next steps on the creation of a vision for a climate-friendly neighbourhood around the 22nd Street SkyTrain Station.

As a way to surface new ideas on planning for a climate-friendly community for all and inform the vision, the City hosted the reGENERATE Ideas Challenge, from November 2023 to January 2024. The reGENERATE Ideas Challenge, which closed at the end of January 2024, was part of the City’s visioning process for the area around the 22nd Street Station. 

Watch the video explaining the challenge here!

Winning Submissions

Top comprehensive Idea (tied):

• “The Same Station in an Urban City,” by JIM Architecture
• “22nd Street Courtyard Community,” by Peter Williams and Jamie Eden

Top Local Community Idea:

• “A Vision for the Future,” by the Monkey Rebel

Top Youth Idea:

• “Destination - Connaught Heights,” by Christian Zollner

Honorable mentions (by jury selection):

• “Sensory Park,” by Carter Canton
• “We are the Memory We Inhabit,” by Fiorella Pinillos, Natalia Botero, and Johanna Pabon

Community's Choice Award:

• “We are the Memory We Inhabit,” by Fiorella Pinillos, Natalia Botero, and Johanna Pabon

Submission and Selection Process

We received 82 submissions from diverse countries, including many submissions from youth and local community members. Submissions explored opportunities to:

• Create and expand spaces for public gathering, including green space with ecological and climate adaptation functions, as well as indoor gathering spaces where neighbours could connect, support each other’s wellbeing, and advance climate action
• Promote local renewable energy generation, such as through wind, solar, or even capturing kinetic energy along pathways
• Redevelop the station and its immediate surroundings into a mixed-use hub that could serve daily needs of residents
• Support a range of housing typologies, from high rise, to mixed-use low rise, courtyard orientations, townhouses, and multiplexes
• Support sustainable transportation modes by expanding bike and pedestrian infrastructure, or closing select roads to cars

Submissions were shortlisted to 20 ideas, and reviewed by a diverse jury including a New Westminster high school student, a local representative from the Advisory Planning Commission, a climate planner from Metro Vancouver, an architect from Human Studio, a planner from Happy Cities, and a Coast Salish cultural advisor. The jury selected the winners for the Top Comprehensive Idea, Top Local Community Idea, Top Youth Idea, as well as the honourable mentions.

Community members voted on the shortlist of submissions to determine the Community's Choice Award. These winning entries embody the creativity, passion, and enthusiasm of proud community members and environmentally-conscious professionals towards shaping an inclusive and climate-friendly future.

View a summary of the winning submissions, the jury’s statements, as well as the full shortlist.