The winning project by students Klára Bábalová, Terezie Jančálková, Eliška Oherová and Veronika Čaban Tomek, titled “The River That Never Disappeared,” focuses on the revitalization of the historically significant Bairro C district. The central theme of the proposal is the Costa-Couros River, which is currently culverted and disconnected from everyday urban life throughout much of the area. Today, the site faces physical degradation, social issues, and environmental challenges. The project therefore combines ecological, social, and spatial strategies on scales ranging from the broader landscape to specific locations within the district.
The proposal activates unused areas and transforms them into orchards, flower meadows, small-scale agricultural plots, beekeeping zones, and new forested areas. Water is the project’s key theme — the Costa-Couros stream becomes the symbolic backbone of the territory. The design responds to the impacts of climate change through effective water retention in the landscape, slowing runoff, and reducing flood risks. Within the Bairro C district itself, the river is reintegrated into public space. The proposal also prioritizes walking, cycling, and public transport over car traffic and initiates the creation of high-quality public spaces connected to the river corridor. Abandoned industrial buildings are given new multifunctional uses and are naturally reintegrated into the life of the district.
An essential basis for the analytical phase of the project was a research trip to Portugal, made possible through the support of the Faculty of Horticulture at Mendel University in Brno. “The opportunity to visit the site in person was crucial for us. It helped us understand not only the physical structure of the place, but also its atmosphere, social connections, and everyday functioning. Thanks to this, we were able to design a solution that responds to the real needs of the area and its residents,” the authors of the project explained.
The competition brief encouraged participants to explore solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in contemporary urbanism. The students’ task was to consider how to connect an urban district with a vision of green infrastructure while ensuring resilience to climate change. Addressing such a demanding challenge required knowledge and application of integrative urban planning principles, which have long been developed as one of the key components of education in the Master’s degree program in Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Horticulture of Mendel University in Brno. Their victory in the student competition confirmed that this educational approach produces results comparable on an international level.
The students’ success was preceded by intensive collaboration within the teaching activities of the Institute of Garden and Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Horticulture of Mendel University in Brno. The students worked on the competition assignment in the Design Studio IV course under the guidance of Viktor Filipi, Adam Lacina, and Barbara Ševčíková. At the same time, all students in the year group had access to an experimental platform for theory and research within the Landscape Architecture III course. “This teaching model, referred to as Research-led Design, is based on a close connection between in-depth analytical and theoretical preparation and studio design work,” explained Barbara Ševčíková, head of the Institute of Garden and Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Horticulture of Mendel University in Brno.
The main organizer of the competition, LE:NOTRE Institute, operates under the auspices of the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools. The specific mission of the LE:NOTRE Institute is to connect academia with professional practice and encourage students from around the world to seek comprehensive solutions to real environmental and social challenges.
Awarded projects and finalists:
Tartu Competition Winning Teams
Contact for further information: Assoc. Prof. Ing. Barbara Ševčíková, Ph.D., +420 777 540 625, barbara.sevcikova@mendelu.cz, Institute of Garden and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Horticulture, Mendel University in Brno