The 2018 RIBA Norman Foster Foundation Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Steven Hutt of the University of Greenwich for his proposal, ‘East of Eden’.

Steven will investigate how urban wildlife is adapting to the rapid rise of densely populated mega-cities in the Far East. The study will take him to Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan, where he will visit the largest and fastest growing cities in the world to document how local technologies are cultivating new natural environments for urban wildlife to cohabit with humans.

The jury was chaired by Lord Foster and comprised Ben Derbyshire, RIBA President, Farshid Moussavi, Founder of Farshid Moussavi Architecture, Yemi Aladerun, Associate at Barbara Weiss Architects and Spencer de Grey and Narinder Sagoo of Foster + Partners.

During the debate, the jury also highly commended ‘The Worlds Waste: What Happens Once Waste’s in the Bin’ by Jemma Chapman of Ravensbourne and ‘Sensecity’ by Kitty Byrne of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art. Jemma and Kitty will receive a camera as a prize for their proposals.

Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation:

‘This year saw the highest number of entries to the Travelling Scholarship, and as ever the standard was extremely high, which gave the jury an extremely challenging task. In the end, we all felt the winning proposal dealt with a topic that was extremely relevant given the accelerating pace of urbanisation in Asia and the rest of the world. The relationship between nature and the city will be a key aspect, as we seek to develop the sustainable cities of the future, and I look forward to seeing the findings of Steven Hutt’s research that he will carry out during his journey through China, South Korea and Japan.’

RIBA President Ben Derbyshire:

‘I am delighted that the 2018 RIBA Norman Foster Foundation Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Steven Hutt from the University of Greenwich. I admire Steven’s proposal to visit some of the fastest growing cities in the world to explore how urban wildlife cohabits with humans. I wish him well on his travels and very much look forward to his research findings.’

Initially set up in 2006, the RIBA Norman Foster Foundation Travelling Scholarship is awarded to one student to fund international research on a topic and in a location of their choice.