CitiesToBe - the urban think lab by Anteverti, a Barcelona-based urban innovation consultancy working with cities and territories worldwide - opens the third edition of its international urban photography competition.

Since 2020, the CitiesToBe Photo Award has invited photographers and visual artists from around the world to explore the complexity of contemporary cities through the image, understanding photography as a tool for critical reflection on urban life. For the first time, the award dedicates its edition to a specific theme: third places.

The 26 Edition Theme: 'Third Places'

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 - open, collective spaces that make possible the encounters and experiences that make urban life fascinating, inspiring and enriching. From the ancient Greek agora to the bar, the library, the square or the café, third places have historically stimulated conversation, the discovery of difference and coexistence. They are spaces of empathy, inclusion, community and democratic life.

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 invites photographers from around the world to submit a photographic project - 10 to 20 images - exploring these questions.

Submissions are free and open until September 30, 2026.

What winners receive

1 Winning Project - €1,500
Acquisitive prize. As part of the recognition, the organization acquires the printing rights for one photograph from the awarded series - selected by them - and produces a print that becomes part of its private urban photography collection. The project is published as a photo essay on citiestobe.com and disseminated through CitiesToBe and Anteverti's digital channels.

5 Finalist Projects - €500 each
Acquisitive prize. Same conditions as the winning project: the organization acquires the printing rights for one photograph from each series, publishes the project as a photo essay on citiestobe.com, and disseminates it through its digital channels.

About CitiesToBe Photo Award

Launched in 2016 by Anteverti, a Barcelona-based urban innovation consultancy working with cities and territories worldwide, CitiesToBe is an urban think lab for anyone passionate about (re)imagining more sustainable, fairer and vibrant urban futures. Through articles, interviews, stories, photo essays and editorial projects by some of the world's leading urban thinkers, innovators and experts, CitiesToBe explores the complexity of contemporary urban life - trying to ask better questions about the cities we inhabit today and sparking new analyses and critical perspectives about the ones we want to build.

The CitiesToBe Photo Award is a central part of that mission. Since its first edition in 2020, it has invited photographers from around the world to look at urban realities and reflect on them through the power of images. Edition by edition, and rooted in CitiesToBe and Anteverti's commitment to artistic creation as a way to critically approach today's urban world, the award builds a visual archive of how cities are being lived, transformed and questioned right now. Every awarded series becomes part of the editorial life of CitiesToBe: 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.

^{Image: Benedetta Ristori, Honorable Mentions CitiesToBe Photo Award 23}