Think about the place where you live, where you work, where you play. Have it in mind? There’s so many great things about it- and that’s because it’s your home. But it could always be better. So how do we make our communities where we live, work, and play a more vibrant and sustainable home? We believe the answer is simple, and can be summarized in one word, so follow with me here.

Competition (as defined by my dictionary) is a word often associated with a battle for supremacy, a desire to outdo another for a prize or a profit, a drive for acknowledgement. Competition (as defined by me) simply means the inherent need to be the best. Where am I going with this? What I’m saying is that we generally associate competition with either winning or losing, victory or disappointment, success or failure… and this is wrong. We shouldn’t make that association- and here’s why.

The root of the word “competition” comes from Latin phrase “competere”, which literally translates as “come together”. Later the term evolved into meaning “strive together”. This is where I make my case that competition was never intended to create winners and losers. Competition in society should strengthen the whole instead of divide it, because only as a whole can we “strive together”. Competition should be about everyone working towards a common goal while pushing one another to succeed. How can we take this simple concept, “competere”, and apply it within our community?

In reality, competition has both valuable and detrimental effects. By acknowledging that these exist we can work to limit the negative effects (wasting resources, time and energy, creating stress or hostility, and aggressive behavior) and advance the positive effects (evolution, advancement of concepts, adaptation, and growth). Are you beginning to see what a powerful idea “competere” is as opposed to what competition means today?

Architects can play a leading role in redefining competition. By striving together architects have the power to evolve the built environment into something healthier, more sustainable, and more beautiful community. Architects, engineers, and inventors can work to advance the ideas and technology behind sustainable energies such as wind, solar and hydropower. Design can drive adaptation and growth inside a community while also serving as an aesthetically pleasing and functional environment. When architects compete it allows visionary ideas to come forward and retires antique concepts or revives them for smarter, better use.

This is the part where I would try to force some enlightening quotation from some famous dead guy into my blog post, but in the spirit of competition- bring it on.