Malecon 2000, Ecuador, International development projects office, Oxford Brookes University
The reconstruction of 2.5 km of waterfront (or malecon) in the city of Guayaquil is one of the largest urban renewal projects Latin America has ever seen. Over seven years from 1997, a team of academics and professionals from Oxford Brookes University’s International Development Projects Office worked with designers from the Engineering University of Lima to plan and build the $150m (£86m) development. Not record rainfall of 9 m, nor the collapse of the Ecuadorian currency, nor the six changes of president were allowed to derail the project. Where once there was dereliction and decay, now there is a national museum and art gallery, a commercial centre, food court, restaurants and bars, botanic gardens, a public square and an Imax cinema. Incredible.
The Malecon 2000 project in Ecuador regenerated 2.5 km of waterfront under astonishingly difficult conditions
Runners-up
Base document, Olabeaga, Bilbao, Spain – Zaha Hadid
A certain F Gehry has already had a crack at regenerating Bilbao, with no small degree of success. But one building does not an urban renaissance make, and that’s where Zaha Hadid comes in. The London practice is shortlisted this year for two projects in the Spanish city. The first is for the hilly, riverside district of Olabeaga, north of the city centre. Instead of trying to extend the urban grid and turning away from the River Nervion, Hadid organised workshops to find a new identity for the