2022 Penn IUR Photo Contest Winners

For the seventh year, Penn IUR held a photography contest to capture the experience of cities around the world. The theme in 2022, “Thriving,” drew attention to the resilience of urban places and people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked to submit photographs that depict thriving in community activities, in urban landscapes, or other examples of flourishing conditions. Out of more than 80 submissions from photographers in more than a dozen countries, three images were selected as the winner and runners up. Guest judges included three members of University of Pennsylvania faculty: Francesca Ammon, Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning and Historic Preservation; Matt Kenyatta, Director of Justice and Belonging; and John McInerney, Director, Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.

Winner: Wall with Hope by Dan Cook

Philadelphia, United States

"Early winter morning, mid-pandemic, a person waits for a bus alongside a wall bursting with urgings of encouragement and hope with a nonchalance that belies the extraordinariness of the moment. Here is a moment of thriving…a thriving in the everyday."

Runner-Up: Gossip and Nostalgia by Nimai Chandra Ghosh

West Bengal, India

"Coronavirus is finished, and women are happy and satisfied with the vaccination. They come closer to each other, gossiping, as well as taking care of their hair. They are enjoying their life throughout the generations, from tiny baby to 76 years old. This is happy, prosperous, satisfied, and loveable life."

Runner-Up: Lights and Hope by Muhammad Amdad Hossain

Dhaka, Bangladesh

"As part of the Hindu festival Rakher Upobash, thousands of Hindu people pray in Shamibag Temple and sit together with oil lamps and fruit. The Hindu devotees keep fasting on that day and secure their places from an afternoon in the temple. All the men, women, and children sit side by side. They remember Baba Loknath who was an 18th-century Hindu saint of Bengal."