MONTRÉAL, CANADA.-The Canadian Centre for Architecture announces a call for submissions for the 2006-2007 James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City competition. A collaboration between the CCA and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Cities Programme, the intent of this bi-annual competition is to promote innovative approaches to urban phenomena, and to reposition architecture at the centre of debates on the city of the 21st century.

Proposals are being sought for research projects that provoke critical as well as theoretical debate and simultaneously advance practical knowledge. An international jury of architects and urban planners will select the 2006–2007 Stirling Lecturer, to be announced in May 2006. The winner will present a public lecture in autumn 2006 at the CCA in Montréal, and a second version of the lecture in autumn 2007 at the LSE in London. The Stirling Lecturer will receive an award of $5,000 CAD, plus travel expenses in connection with the Montréal and London presentations. The deadline for applications is 1 March 2006.

The 2006-2007 jury is composed of Rahul Mehrotra (Principal, Rahul Mehrotra Associates, Mumbai, and Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Mary Ann Ray (Principal, Studio Works, Los Angeles, and faculty member at Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles), Edward Soja (Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Professor of Urban Planning, University of California at Los Angeles), Manuel de Solà-Morales (Architect and Urban Planner, Barcelona; Director of the Laboratory of Urbanism (LUB); Chair and Professor of Urbanism, School of Architecture of Barcelona, Polytechnic University of Catalonia), and Mirko Zardini (Architect and Urban Theorist and Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture).

The 2004–2005 Stirling Lecture prize was awarded to Teddy Cruz of San Diego for “Border Postcards: Chronicles from the Edge,” a project proposing new urban strategies for the international border zone spanning San Diego and Tijuana. The Stirling jury unanimously agreed that Cruz’s blend of theory and design, and his critical approach to the social and political dynamics that determine the character of the ‘informal city’ were significant contemporary reflections on the way James Stirling approached urban design. Mr. Cruz’s submission was chosen among 53 proposals submitted by candidates from 22 countries — ranging from senior scholars and practitioners to emerging voices.

The inaugural Stirling Lecture at the CCA in October 2004 was followed by a presentation and symposium at the Van Alen Institute in New York City in April 2005. The final presentation of Mr. Cruz's Stirling Lecture and an informal symposium took place on 3 and 4 November 2005 at the London School of Economics.

Conceived in homage to architect James Stirling, who believed that urban design is integral to the practice of architecture and a vital topic for public debate, the James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City competition was inaugurated in November 2003 as a unique forum for the advancement of critical perspectives on the role of urban design and urban architecture in the development of the urban environment worldwide.

For additional information and submission guidelines visit www.cca.qc.ca/stirling or contact stirlinglectures@cca.qc.ca.