Incheon is expanding its response to the climate crisis into the realm of public design. The plan aims to address the environmental challenges facing the city through design innovation, rather than relying solely on administrative regulation or infrastructure investment.
Incheon will hold the "2026 Incheon Public Design Competition" and invite creative design ideas with a total prize pool of 8 million won, the city said Tuesday. This year's theme is "Link Incheon: A Creative City Connected Through Design." The subtheme, "Public Design for a Sustainable Incheon in the Era of Climate Crisis," clarifies the policy direction.
The competition marks a full-fledged attempt to use public design as a policy tool for solving urban problems. It focuses on reinterpreting climate issues facing Incheon, such as abnormal weather, carbon neutrality, and rising sea levels, from a design perspective, and on finding solutions that citizens can tangibly experience.
The competition covers three areas: public facilities, public spaces, and public visual media. Participants can propose policy-linked ideas for each area, including carbon-neutral facilities, safe spaces protecting citizens from climate disasters, and visual media to spread awareness of the climate crisis.
Any Korean national may apply. Entries can be submitted individually or in teams of up to two people. Applications will be accepted online from July 27 until 5 p.m. on August 7.
Judging will be conducted in two stages. A first round of online screening will select 24 works, after which the top 12 works will undergo a presentation review by an expert panel of judges and a gallery review by a citizen design group. The works will be evaluated comprehensively on their fit with the competition's purpose, creativity, and policy feasibility.
For prizes, one grand prize will receive 2 million won and one gold prize 1.5 million won. Two silver prizes will each receive 1 million won, three bronze prizes 500,000 won each, and five special prizes 200,000 won each. All 24 winning works will receive the Incheon Mayor's Award. The winning works will be exhibited at the "Incheon Creative X Design Week" to be held in the second half of the year, where the awards ceremony will also take place, with the final announcement scheduled for October.
"Public design is an important policy tool for solving urban problems and improving citizens' quality of life," said Lim Cheol-hee, head of Incheon's Creative City Support Group. "We hope this competition will serve as an opportunity to discover creative ideas for responding to the era of climate crisis and to envision a sustainable future for Incheon."
