"One Garden, World Imagination" — 2027 Shanghai Garden Design Competition

Organizer: School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Supporting organizations: Economics and Management Research Committee of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, Shanghai Society of Landscape Architecture, Shanghai Greening Management Guidance Station, Shanghai Jing'an District Greening Management Center

Location: Shanghai, China (selected schemes will be built and presented during the Shanghai International Flower Show in April 2027)

Competition Category: Two entry groups, listed individually:

The design task is a small garden scheme for an 80–200 m² urban open space, creating an enterable, dwellable and experiential garden space combining flower-border design, green sculpture and seating features; planting should focus on Shanghai spring flowers and perennial herbaceous plants, with no restriction on thematic concept.

Note: each entrant or team may submit an unlimited number of schemes, but the same scheme may not be entered in more than one group; teams must designate a team leader for communication who confirms all author credits.

Eligibility: Open to university students and faculty and to professional design practitioners worldwide (judged separately by group); teams must appoint a leader; works must be original and must not infringe third-party intellectual property

Entry Fee: Free

Core Introduction: Initiated by the School of Design at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, this open call aims to put the "People's City" philosophy into practice, support Shanghai's park city development, and build a creative practice platform for universities and design institutions in China and abroad. Under the theme "One Garden, World Imagination" — where one garden represents the smallest scale of urban micro-renewal and world imagination represents the convergence of global design wisdom — the competition uses 80–200 m² urban open spaces as a canvas and asks designers to respond to city life through gardens, encouraging creative expression through art, sound, experience and knowledge to explore the deep integration of garden design with urban life and ecological wellbeing. Design requirements: construction techniques, materials and costs must be realistic and feasible for implementation; environmental friendliness must be fully demonstrated with preference for low-carbon and recyclable materials; entries are encouraged to shape an iconic garden image (city IP) that reflects Shanghai's urban spirit and has long-term retention and operational value; AI drawing tools may be used to assist design, provided the tool names, stages of use and human design contributions are disclosed, with entrants responsible for the originality of the results. Submission requirements: concept design depth (concept inspiration, design statement, concept renderings, main plant types, etc.); PDF files as A0 portrait presentation boards, limited to 1 board for the university group and 1–2 boards for the professional group; no author names, institutions or other identifying information may appear in the scheme files (anonymous review); registration information and the scheme must be submitted separately, with the compressed package containing the registration form, originality declaration form and scheme PDF; the compressed package and email subject must be named "group + work title + team leader name"; submissions may be in Chinese or English. Judging process: a working group first reviews eligibility, material completeness, design conditions and originality, after which experts conduct anonymous review by group, assessing creative expression, planting design, public experience, ecological friendliness and feasibility of implementation; the proposed award list is published for public announcement, during which objections with evidence may be submitted under real names. Rights: authorship remains with the designers; the organizer and garden implementing party hold rights to use selected schemes for non-commercial promotion, exhibition and publication; authorisation and fees for design development and realisation are agreed separately between the implementing party and the designers; unselected schemes are not returned and will not be used for other purposes without the author's consent; the implementing party may develop and adapt selected schemes while respecting originality and guaranteeing the designers' authorship credit; teams receiving realisation design fees must support design development and construction-stage technical coordination. Submission email: fxzwzhangnan@sjtu.edu.cn; contact: Ms Zhang, +86 15618200355.