Dezeen promotion: architects, designers and multidisciplinary teams can now enter Eleven Magazine's latest ideas competition, which aims to reimagine the Tenderloin area of San Francisco as the "neighbourhood of the future".

Tenderloin – an area in downtown San Francisco, California – is currently considered one of the city's most unsafe neighbourhoods.

Following the success of last year's challenge in Cambodia, Eleven Magazine has launched a competition for ideas to transform the area into a "model-district" that businesses and people could relocate to.

"In the city's Bay Area, we are witnessing a new paradigm shift which is bound to impact the way we think of urbanism in the future", said Eleven editor Andrea Verenini. "There is a sense that a new urban revolution – or perhaps evolution – is simmering and we wish to capture this excitement with our new international competition."

"The Tenderloin is an area of huge untapped potential waiting to be discovered," added Verenini. "But, the question remains: how do you solve a problem like San Francisco's Tenderloin?"

With companies like Google developing new neighbourhoods just a few miles from the area, the competition asks entrants to submit similar design-led ideas on how this district can be transformed.

Submissions should be in the form of two A1 sheets with an accompanying text document explaining the design. Models are optional. All proposals are to be submitted digitally through the Eleven website.

Entrants have until 11 May 2016 to submit their proposals, and are eligible for an early bird discount before 1 March 2016. Winners will be announced on 11 July 2016.

The winning team will receive a cash prize of £3,000 and be published on the Eleven Magazine website. The team will then be invited to either join the jury panel for Eleven's next competition or get a discounted entry fee to enter.

Jury members include Boston Architectural College dean Karen Nelson, Roger Hawkins of Hawkins/Brown Architects, BIG associate Leon Rost and Dezeen's architecture editor Amy Frearson.

Founded in early 2015 by Andrea Verenini, Eleven aims to provide a platform for ideas to help solve worldwide problems through the use of design and innovation.

"We believe design has a major role in shaping lives," explained Verenini. "Competitions have many virtues; they encourage innovation and foster talent, but most importantly they raise awareness on global issues whilst suggesting possible actions."

For more information and to register to enter, visit the Eleven website.

Read on for more information from the organisers.

Eleven's San Francisco 2016 Competition Opens!

Following on from the success of Cambodia 2015 (awarded 3rd Top Competition of 2015 by Bustler), Eleven is excited to announce their latest architecture and idea challenge: San Francisco 2016 - Tenderloin System Update.

For this challenge, we move to California, in the beautiful city of San Francisco. The city is the USA's most sought after real estate location and its Bay Area is today leading the way for innovative technologies and new urban models for the future.

"In the city's Bay Area, we are witnessing a new paradigm shift which is bound to impact the way we think of urbanism in the future”, explains Dr Andrea Verenini, Editor of Eleven. "There is a sense that a new urban revolution – or perhaps evolution – is simmering and we wish to capture this excitement with our new international competition."

Indeed, as more and more small to medium businesses are competing for an e-presence online, gigantic internet-based corporations are looking for ways to move their influence from the virtual into the physical world.

Companies like Google are imagining and developing new neighbourhoods just a few miles from San Francisco’s city centre. Like generations before them, the leaders of our contemporary industrial and social revolution are wanting to affirm their place in the real world.

Invigorated by the possibilities they see happening in the digital age, they are looking to create new forms of urbanism which reflect both their values and the new techno-society we live in.

Historically, San Francisco, has always been a mecca for people looking for a new life. From the wild-west gold rush days, to the Beat generation and the flower-power Summer of Love children, this city by the bay has been consistently behind major cultural shifts and is a frontrunner advocate for free-thinking.

A place where ideas are encouraged and innovation flourishes, San Francisco and its Bay Area remain global trend setters; a think-tank-geo-hub where possibilities seem to be endless.

However, at the same time, San Francisco is home to the Tenderloin, one of the most distressed and dangerous neighbourhoods of the USA. High levels of drugs, crime, prostitution, homelessness and violence are every-day realities in this neighbourhood. Locals and tourists alike are strongly advised to avoid the area even in broad daylight and the police are often too scared to intervene without heavy backup by their side.

Ironically, the Tenderloin sits at the geographical heart of San Francisco, next to some of the most fashionable and desirable districts the city has to offer. Despite the vicinity to affluence, this part of the city remains isolated, existing as a dystopian urban island.

Herein lies both the opportunity and the challenge that Eleven are highlighting in their competition. "The Tenderloin is an area of huge untapped potential waiting to be discovered", says Andrea, "but, the question remains: how do you solve a problem like San Francisco's Tenderloin?" The competition asks for design-led ideas on how this distressed area can be turned into a model-district paving the way for a new age of 21st century inner-city regeneration to flourish.

Eleven calls thinkers, architects, designers, students and multidisciplinary teams from around the world to design innovation by submitting a proposal for turning one of the most deprived, dangerous and disconnected areas in the USA into the neighbourhood of the future.

The challenge will seek a winner, a runner-up and six honourable mentions with a total cash prize of £4,500 to be won as well as lots of media goodies. The awards will be selected by a prestigious roster of judges from renowned academic institutions, architectural studios (which include Danish archi-innovators BIG), and magazine editors. The general public will also be given a chance to vote for their favourite entry on Eleven's website. The entry with the most public votes will win the People's Choice Award, which also comes with a nice cash prize and media focus.

The competition will kick-start a series of global spin-off events which include international exhibitions and publications.

This challenge is in support of the San Francisco charity Project Night Night, helping homeless children dream of a better future.

The challenge was officially announced at the opening night of Eleven's Cambodia Exhibition - a three-week long exhibition in Covent Garden, London, in association with the Architectural Review, hosted by KPF - on 21 January. San Francisco 2016 is open for registration from the 11 February until the submission deadline of the 11 March, with winners announced on the 11 July.

www.eleven-magazine.com