The Design Competition was set up as one of the six Demo–Projects of the Municipal Spatial Support Programme (MuSPP) for collecting creative ideas to turn a city vision into action. This Demo-project is a joint initiative and co-funded by the Municipality of Ferizaj/Urosevac and UN-HABITAT-MuSPP (sponsored by Sida). The International Spatial Design Competition for the Mobility Centre Project is aimed at retrieving creative ideas from spatial and urban designers all over the world.  The competition was successful as it attracted 43 entries from 22 countries. The Mobility Centre Project in Ferizaj/Urosevac aims at integrating all urban transport modes into one central hub, which should become a catalyst for the overall regeneration of the urban centre.  On 19th of May 2008, a special Selection Committee considered the 43 submissions in the KUF (Kolegji Universitar në Ferizaj), where a public exhibition of all entries took place from 13-19 May. All the committee members listed below were present except Naser Hoxha fromthe business community.

1. Mr.Bajrush Xhemajli, Mayor of Ferizaj/Urosevac and the chairman of the Selection Committee 

2. Ms. Qazime Vata- director of  UGPC Directorate in the Municipality of Ferizaj/Urosevac

3. Mr. Frank D’hondt- Spatial Planning Coordinator of UN-HABITAT/MuSPP

4. Mr. Joachim Bergerhof- Mobility Expert of UN-HABITAT/MuSPP

5. Mr. Mehdi Berisha,- Kosovo Railways

6. Mr. Kamer Shabanaj- Ministry of Transport and Post Telecomunication

7. Mr. Luan Nushi- director of the Institute of Spatial Planning/Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning

8. Ms. Mexhide Lubishtani- representative of the Informal Council of the Civil Society Organisation

9. Mr. Fadil Rexhepi- citizen of Ferizaj/Urosevac municipality

10. Mr. Naim Pajaziti- Association ofprivate transportersFerizaj/Urosevac

The meeting started with the introduction of Mr. Garth Seneque, the new head of UN-HABITAT Office in Prishtina. Mr.Seneque thanked the committee and the proffesional jury for their commitment and time given to the project. This was followed by the Mayor’s welcome to the SC and the official oppening of the meeting by Ms. Qazime Vata.

The deliberations of the Selection Committee were based on the report of a special Professional Jury, which recommended a short list of project ideas.  The project submissions were assigned a code so that neither the Professional Jury nor the Selection Committee knew the identity of those who entered. Therefore their deliberations were more objective.  The short list was of code numbers 26, 04, 08, 31; 38, 05, 22 and 40 [1]. The Selection Committee added project ideas 01 and 16 [2] to the already short listed.

The unanimous decision was to award projects numbered 26 and 04 first and second prize respectively. The other project design proposal with code number 22 was voted with seven votes pro out of ten in total, for the third prize. The project design proposal with the code number 31was finally disqualified because of non-compliance with the municipal vision to keep the railway in the city centre, but the SC wants to express its appreciation for the visionary approach and graphical qualities of the proposal.

According to the code numbers the winners are:

First prize goes to the design company SEARLE/WALDRON from Melbourne/VIC Australia

Second prize goes to 9272 Architects from Malmo/Sweden and the

Third prize winner goes to XL Architects from Prishtina, Kosovo.

A special merit goes to Tower 151 Architects from Zagreb , Croatia .

Shortly communication will follow on the awarded ceremony and other follow up activities as the final phase of this demo-project.

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[1] Project design idea with the code number

 26 is from the design company SEARLE/WALDRON from Melbourne/VIC Australia

 04 is from Anna Klara Lundberg from Malmo/Sweden

 22 is from XL Architects from Prishtina, Kosovo.

 31 is from Tower 151 Architects from Zagreb , Croatia   

 08 is from SKP Architects/ London/UK

 38 is Tamara Dede, Afërdita Bytyqi and Chiara Mocci from Barcelona/Spain

 05 is from T4 &Associates, California/USA

 40 is from South Group from Buenos Aires/Argentina 

[2] Project design idea with the code number

 01 is from SP Architecture, Berlin/Germany

 16 is from Concours du 7, Paris/France