The RIBA Competitions Office announced the launch of a new two-stage, International Open Design Competition on behalf of Maidstone Borough Council.

Through creative and innovative use of design and public art, the competition is seeking ideas and approaches for a circa GBP £4m public realm improvement project for the High Street in Maidstone's town centre.

Submissions are invited from multi-disciplinary design teams, which must be led by a practising, registered architect or landscape architect.

Global networking leader Cisco has today launched Urban 2020, a new competition for university students across the UK and Ireland.

Aimed at stimulating debate around all aspects of urban regeneration, Urban 2020 invites students to design the connected community of the future.

As technology continues to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate, the potential exists for urban environments to become more connected, less congested and more environmentally sound.

Cisco's Urban 2020 competition encourages students to use sustainable ecological principles in their submissions and to consider the impact that a changing society, technological advances and the environment will have on our communities in the future.

Art Alliance Austin is once again partnering with AIA-Austin and Austin Foundation for Architecture to solicit ideas for the Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space 2 (TOGS 2) competition in 2009. In 2009 the competition welcomes our new partner AIA New York Chapter. Last year's inaugural TOGS competition yielded 269 registrations from over 20 countries. The winning project A Little Room from the design team of Amy Wynne and Mark Leveno from Los Angeles, California is expected to premiere to the public during Art Week Austin 2009.

The temporary architecture installations will unify the annual outdoor exhibit, provide prestigious gallery space for selected artists, and showcase emerging professional within the international architecture community. The TOGS will ultimately stretch the boundaries of work shown outdoors and will enhance the outdoor art fair experience by showcasing the synergy between art + architecture.

Designing in Teheran is an international contest open to creatives, designers and architects, who are called upon to develop a design for two multistorey buildings, hereafter A and B, set in the Iranian city of Teheran.

The aim of the contest is to bring together ideas and identify solutions that will provide the best and most coherent integration of the structures in the local urban and commercial setting, with projects that take into account cultural and technical aspects, in order to enhance the buildings, making them recognisable, with a clear sense of identity. The spaces in question will be used for commercial premises and offices, and crucial in these designs will be the ability to convey the sense that these spaces are interpreted with contemporary sensitivity.

The Contest will select three designs for A and three for B, before going on to proclaim one winner for A and one for B.