This Edition's Curatorial Framework:
The Contemporary City Beyond Home, Productivity and Algorithms

In 1989, in "The Great Good Place", urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg introduced the notion of the 'third place': spaces of informal, open, and egalitarian social interaction that are neither home nor workplace. These are the settings where the encounters and experiences that make urban life fascinating, inspiring and enriching take place — where the unexpected, the unplanned, and the accidental unfold. Where routine is disrupted and the urban experience expands.

From the ancient Greek agora to theatres, parks, bars, libraries, squares, and cafés, third places have long embodied this condition. They are spaces that have enabled the exchange of knowledge and opinions — from culture to cuisine, from gossip to scientific theory — while fostering conversation, attentive listening and the discovery of difference. They are spaces where we encounter what is not like us, where empathy, tolerance and coexistence are practiced. Places of inclusion, community, belonging and participation in shared urban life. Places, ultimately, of democracy.

Yet in an era of hyper-digitalized relationships, where algorithms guide us through the city — curating places, filtering experiences, and segmenting the conversations we are exposed to — these spaces face new questions. In a turbulent global context marked by conflict, polarization, and growing pressure on collective spaces and shared understanding, what role do third places still play in our cities? Is there still room for them? Are we willing to keep sharing them? What forms might they take in the future? Will they hybridize, or will there be a renewed desire for the archetypal openness of the ancient public square?

The CitiesToBe Photo Award 26 — the third edition of Anteverti’s international photography competition on urban complexity — focuses precisely on this: the role of third places in the contemporary city.

Prizes & Recognition

The CitiesToBe Photo Award understands the prize as a combination of economic recognition, acquisition and visibility.

• 1 Winning Project — €1,500 Acquisitive prize.
  The organization acquires the printing rights for one photograph from the awarded series and produces a print that becomes part of our private urban photography collection. The project is published as a photo essay here on CitiesToBe and disseminated through our digital channels.
• 5 Finalist Projects — €500 each Acquisitive prize.
  Same conditions as the winning project: acquisition of one photograph, publication as a photo essay, and dissemination through our channels.

Authors retain full copyright of their work at all times. The organization covers all printing and production costs.

How to Enter

This edition, we are looking for photographic projects — 10 to 20 images — that explore the role of third places in the contemporary city. We welcome documentary, conceptual and critical approaches alike.

• Format: Photographic project of 10 to 20 images
• Theme: Third places — the shared spaces beyond home and work where urban life truly unfolds
• Eligibility: Open to all artists and collectives, aged 18+, any nationality
• Images: Must be lens-based and shot after January 1st, 2024
• AI-generated or synthetic images are not eligible
• One project per participant
• Free to enter

+ Submit your project here

+ Read the full guidelines & legal bases here

The Jury

The 2026 jury brings together professionals from photography, visual culture, and urban thought, as well as from the CitiesToBe Editorial Board:

• Roger Grasas
  Photographer and Visual Artist
• Arianna Rinaldo
  Independent Photography Curator and Editor
• Cristina Garrido
  Co-founder of CitiesToBe & CEO of Anteverti
• Pilar Conesa
  Co-founder of CitiesToBe & President of Anteverti
• Sergio García i Rodríguez
  Editor-in-Chief of CitiesToBe & Head of Communications of Anteverti

The jury will evaluate submissions based on artistic quality, conceptual strength, coherence of the series, relevance to the curatorial framework, and engagement with urban complexity.

Timeline: Key Dates

The 2026 jury brings together professionals from photography, visual culture, and urban thought, as well as from the CitiesToBe Editorial Board:

• June 22, 2026
  Call opens
• September 30, 2026
  Submission deadline
• November 2026
  Winners announced

The Award: Previous Editions

CitiesToBe — the urban think lab by Anteverti — created the Photo Award in 2020 out of a conviction that has guided our work from the beginning: that photography is one of the most powerful ways to understand what cities actually are — not as infrastructure or data, but as lived, contested, layered experience.

Since its first edition, the award has invited photographers from around the world to look honestly at urban realities and reflect on them through the power of images. Edition by edition, it builds a visual archive of how cities are being lived, transformed and questioned right now. Every awarded project becomes part of our editorial life: published, discussed, and shared with a community of citymakers, leaders, creatives and urbanites from across the globe.

The award has received submissions from more than 60 countries in 2020 and 94 countries in 2023. The first edition was won by Roman Demyanenko (Russia) for 'Vorkuta', and the second by Nathalie Daoust (Canada) for 'In the Shadow of the Big City' — two images that capture, each in their own way, the complexity and humanity of contemporary urban life.

Explore the full archive of previous editions below.

The CTBPA26 is part of Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture!

The Open Call of the CitiesToBe Photo Award 26is part of the programme for Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, a distinction awarded by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) to the city hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects, making it a global forum for architecture, urban planning and landscape design. From 12 February to 13 December 2026, a multidisciplinary programme will be developed and implemented in close collaboration with schools, universities, public administrations, and professional and cultural organisations across the Catalan territory.

Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture is supported by Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda.

+ Discover more