The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced the names of the 158 finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge. The nationwide call was for innovative ideas to make the 26 communities where the Knight Foundation invests more social and vibrant places to live. More than 4,500 entries were submitted proposing a range of ideas from opening the world’s largest African American history museum in Detroit to a card game that encourages residents of Charlotte to visit new neighborhoods. The winners, who will split a prize of $5 million, will be announced in the spring of 2016.

Aysu Aysoy and Roman Hajtmanek have been announced as the winners of the ArchDaily + IIDEXCanada Virtual Spaces Competition, which sought proposals for un-built, fantastical spaces. The designs were then developed into virtual spaces by Invent Dev as a part of a virtual reality exhibition at IIDEXCanada.

The Museum of Finnish Architecture, in collaboration with the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA), has announced the winners of its “From Border to Home” competition, which sought solutions for temporary housing seekers who are awaiting a decision on their refugee status, prior to finding more permanent housing in Finland. Ninety-three entries were submitted from countries around the world including Finland, Sweden, Norway, China, Belarus, the United States, and Brazil, among others. Submitted proposals included solutions that would provide a positive social impact, and also support future ideas about long-term living arrangements.

With a population of 3.4 million inhabitants, Berlin is the largest city in Germany and one of the major enclaves of power and culture in Europe. The division of the city during the Cold War doubled the cultural offer. Two theaters, two philharmonic and two stadiums were built generating a great amount of establishments that after the unification enrich the collective culture. Berlin is the cultural capital of the country by excellence. Despite the atrocities it suffered in the past, the city is known for its religious tolerance and multiculturalism. Today the city coexists exemplarily withdifferent religions and cultures from

The Islington Council has shortlisted five teams to redevelop the its St Luke's area. Aimed at alleviating Islington's housing needs, the project will deliver much needed new leisure and community facilities, affordable homes and improved public space, as well as "an exemplary civic building" on a site adjacent to St Luke's Church. According to the Brief, the new building will "bring together leisure, childcare, healthcare and local energy production under one roof."

Four architectural design teams have been chosen to submit designs for the $83.1 million State Library Victoria Vision 2020 Redevelopment Project in Victoria, Australia.

The Ninth European Prize for Urban Public Space (2016) has officially issued a call for entries. The biennial honorary award “has been offered since 2000 in order to recognize, encourage, and publicize examples of good practice in the ways in which the public spaces of European cities respond to the many challenges they presently face.”

The Prize seeks interventions that recover or improve the democratic quality of urban spaces that are endangered by “segregation, inequalities, unchecked urban construction, unsustainable squandering, and serious shortfalls in making effective the right to the city.”

Update: The winner of the competition has now been announced!

NKA Foundation has announced the winners of the 3^rd Earth Architecture Competition, Designing for the Arts, in Ghana. The competition called for recent graduates and students of architecture and design to design innovative, modest, and affordable housing for artists that could be built using earth and local materials in Ghana.

iGA has shared a glimpse of 6 proposed designs competing to be the Istanbul New Airport's Traffic Control Tower. With designs by Zaha Hadid, Moshe Safdie, Grimsaw-Nordic, Massimiliano Fuksas, Pininfarina-Aecom, and RMJM Architects, the competition seeks to chose an innovative tower that is "inspired by the authentic symbols of Turkey."

Farshid Moussavi and HAT Projects are among five shortlisted to redesign the entrance of London's Science Museum. The project, slated to complete in 2019, calls for a "new, generous and contemporary entrance" as part of an overall masterplan that seeks to transform a third of the museum over the next five years.

MoMA P.S.1 has announced five finalists to compete in the 2016 Young Architects Program (YAP). Now in it’s 16th edition, the competition will challenge a group of emerging architects to design a temporary installation within the walls of the P.S.1 courtyard for MoMA’s annual summer “Warm-Up” series.

The Tainan City Government in Taiwan has launched an international design competition for its Tainan Public Library Project, a key factor in the cultural development of Tainan.

The winners of the 2015 LEAF Awards have been announced. Founded in 2001, the awards ceremony honors innovative architecture projects in 13 different categories dedicated to various aspects of building, including best façade design and engineering, best future building, and public building of the year.

Six teams have been shortlisted to design the world's largest waste-to-energy plant in Shenzhen, China: Arup, Atkins, AECOM, Gerber Architekten, Schmidt Hammer Lassen with Gottlieb Paludan Architects, and local firm Tanghua Architects. Aiming to manage Shenzhen's growing population (and waste accumulation), the "Shenzhen East Waste-to-Energy Plant" plans to incinerate 5000 tonnes of waste daily and generate an estimated 550 million kWh per year.

Ten practices from around the world have been shortlisted in a competition that aims to transform Los Angeles' Pershing Square one of Southern California's top destinations. Located on a five-acre plot in the city's downtown, Pershing Square is Los Angeles' oldest park. Each semi-finalist has been challenged to develop proposals based off of experiences. A small selection of finalists will be selected in December to move on to the competition's final phase.

A few weeks ago, we featured Andrea Maffei Architects’ entry to the Redemptoris Mater Church competition to design a new church complex in Cinisi, Italy. Now, Tomas Ghisellini Architects has unveiled their entry, titled Living Stones, which gets its shape from a series of steles that surround the complex.