The Dubai Municipality launched the world’s first AI-powered park design challenge, a pioneering pilot initiative to harness AI across urban planning, architecture, and park design. The project explores how an integrated ecosystem of AI tools can augment the entire design journey — from site analysis and user insights to concept generation, scenario testing, and solution development — ultimately elevating design quality while accelerating innovation, creativity, and human-centred outcomes.
The design challenge forms part of Dubai Municipality’s efforts to harness advanced technologies, urban design and community participation to shape the future of parks and public spaces. It explores how an integrated ecosystem of AI tools can support the full design journey, from site analysis and user insights to concept generation, scenario testing, design optimization, and visualisation, while ensuring that final design decisions remain human-led.
What are the objectives of the challenge?
According to Dubai Municipality, the challenge aims to:
- Promote innovative, human-centred, and sustainable approaches to the design of public spaces.
- Encourage the meaningful use of AI tools throughout the design process, including site analysis, ideation, scenario testing, visualisation, and decision-making.
- Foster collaboration between designers, architects, technologists, researchers, and innovators.
- Develop implementable and scalable concepts that can be tested as prototype parks within Dubai.
Who can participate?
The design challenge is open to professionals in urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture and public space design, as well as undergraduate students, master’s and PhD candidates, researchers, startups, artificial intelligence specialists and technology innovators.
Participants may apply individually or as part of a multidisciplinary team. One team member must be designated as the team leader and primary point of contact.
Expanding possibilities
Participants are required to demonstrate how AI tools were integrated into their design process to support analysis, iteration and decision-making. This may include concept exploration, spatial planning, environmental response, shade and microclimate optimisation, user experience insights, performance improvement, data-informed design decisions and AI-assisted visualisation.
Key criteria
Submissions will be assessed against several key criteria, including the strength of the AI-integrated design approach, spatial intelligence and feasibility, human-centred experience, inclusivity, sustainability, clarity of design narrative and the ability to translate data analysis into practical spatial outcomes.
Prizes
The challenge carries a total prize pool of AED200,000. The first-place winner will receive AED100,000, the second-place winner AED65,000, and the third-place winner AED35,000, recognising exceptional ideas with the potential to contribute to real-world outcomes.
Deadline
Applications are open until August 25, 2026.
Visit the website: aipark.dm.gov.ae/ai-competition
Cover Image: Dubai – Credit: Randersen – Pixabay
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