In July 2021, during the UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Subnetwork Meeting, focusing on "Health, Greenness, and Resilience of Streets," the chair of the Design and Education Group of the subnetwork, CuritibaBrazil, along with the Cities of Design Querétaro, Mexico, and Wuhan, China, officially launched the "2021 International Street Design Challenge" globally.

After more than four months of open call and communication within the Design  Subnetwork, 11 teams of teachers and students from 10 design schools in 5Cities of Design across 4 countries—Curitiba and Fortaleza in Brazil, Querétaro in Mexico, Kaunas in Lithuania, and Wuhan in China—participated in the 48-hour challenge workshop from November 6 to 7, 2021. This strengthened exchanges and cooperation among design schools in Cities of Design and further promoted the involvement of Wuhan's universities in the building of Wuhan as a City of Design. On December 18, the online award ceremony for the Challenge was held, featuring a keynote speech and award presentation by David Grossman, former President of the International Council of Design.