Giving Compass' Take:

· Fast Company takes a look at 15 urban design projects around the world, from the US to Iceland, and explores the transformation of abandoned areas into zero-carbon living spaces.

· What is the Reinventing Cities competition? How did it inspire architects to design zero-carbon emission living spaces? How can these designs be used to limit the effect of climate change?

· Here's how families are building eco-friendly homes to address climate change. 

The Reinventing Cities competition asked architects to find new uses for vacant and abandoned spaces in cities around the world. The results are an extraordinary example of what future cities could look like.

As the world moves to a zero-carbon future, cities will be key places to transform–particularly buildings, which account for more than half of emissions in most cities. Reinventing Cities, a competition launched two years ago by C40 Cities, a network of mayors focused on finding solutions to climate change, asked architects to reimagine new uses for vacant and abandoned spaces in six cities: Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Oslo, and Reykjavík. These are the winning proposals; the winning teams now have the chance to buy or lease each site to develop the projects.

  1. Garfield Green  - Chicago, United States
  2. Mercado Habitado II - Madrid, Spain
  3. Tercer Sonido - Madrid, Spain
  4. Campus for Living Cities - the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain
  5. Urban Battery - Madrid, Spain
  6. L'Innesto- Milan, Italy
  7. Co-Inventing Doria - Milan, Italy
  8. Vitae - Milan, Italy
  9. Teatro Delle Terme - Milan, Italy
  10. Recipe for Future Living - Oslo, Norway
  11. The Urban Village - Oslo, Norway
  12. MKNO - the Paris suburb of Bobigny, France
  13. Odyssee Pleyel - the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis
  14. LIFANDI LANDSLAG - Reykjavík, Iceland
  15. Fabric - Reykjavík, Iceland

Read the full article about these urban design projects by Adele Peters at Fast Company.