“We’re looking for strong visual statements and images that convey a personal outlook of what a sustainable village should look like,” says Thomas Ermacora, CLEAR Village’s founder. “We’re expecting to receive some very creative entries: it could be a drawing, a photo or a sculpture that represents a sustainable concept, a sketch of how the village might function, or even a visual poem describing the attitudes of the people who live there. But it can get even fancier than that – we’re keen to see as many different interpretations of the brief as possible.” The CLEAR Village project will bring sustainability designers, thinkers and doers together to co‐design a village that will open its doors to the first residents in the next 5 years. Its ultimate aim is to create a replicable master plan strategy that can be adopted in many rural and peri‐urban spaces around the world and bring sustainability into reality faster.

So what about the reward? The first prizewinner will receive €2500, with two runners up of €1250. Winners will have their entries included in CLEAR Village’s publication “RECODE Urbanism -DNA for 21st century dwelling”. Winners and shortlisted participants will receive a logo that can be used in their portfolios or on their website.

The competition is free to enter, open to teams as well as individuals, and the deadline is August 15, 2009 – time to get creative!

To find out more about CLEAR Village and download the contest pack, visit: www.clear‐village.org/contest.