As Chinese cities change, public space is being redefined. The segregation of the urban population, the explosion of urban areas, the rapid increase in building height and floor area, the introduction of massive individual transport and new forms of virtual communication and socialization all distort existing spaces. What used to be vibrant street space is now becoming vast areas populated only by a new street class of security guards, taxi drivers, traffic police and migrant workers, while at the same time formerly pure commercial spaces take over public functions. Other public activities shift to virtual spaces and are no longer embedded in the footprint of the city. In the same time, city development outside the large metropolises too often denies any spatial context or community qualities, drawing its set of rules solely from the market of detached floor plans and their relation to the rays of the sun. Sinocity, a fictitious city in an imaginary Chinese province, reflects more reality of mid-sized Chinese cities than many will admit. The Sinocities Awards seeks to explore new ways of dealing with this status quo of the near future.