Architect and Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Theory / HEIA-FR. Member of the Prize jury (2024) 

An architect and urban designer, Sonia Curnier also holds a PhD in Architecture and Sciences of the City from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her PhD dissertation "L'espace public comme objet per se?" (2018), a critical analysis of the design of public spaces in Europe at the turn of the 21st century, earned her several academic awards. It has recently been adapted into a book entitled Universal Singular, published by Birkhäuser, Basel, 2023. 

After working as a visiting researcher at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2019) she was a postdoctoral researcher at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Malmö, 2020-2021), where she studied transdisciplinary collaborations in public space design. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Urban Sociology Laboratory of EPFL. Her research and teaching focuses on the making of public space, criticality, transdisciplinary practices, and children and youth in cities.

Since 2015, alongside her academic activities, she has had an independent practice as a consultant, critic, and curator, specialising in urban issues, with a focus on public spaces. She is also a member of the editorial team of the Landscape ARchitecture Europe Series. 

[Update: 22 February 2024]