Five Cities Win the 5th Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation
On the night of Nov 12, organized by Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, the closing ceremony of the 5th Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (the "Guangzhou Award"), the 2021 Global Mayors' Forum and the 13th World Congress of the World Association of Metropolis was held in Guangzhou Yuexiu International Congress Center in an online + offline hybrid format.
Chongqing, China; Union of Dannieh Municipalities, Lebanon; Quito, Ecuador; Vienna, Austria; and Saint Louis, Senegal won the 5th Guangzhou Award. Odisha, India claimed the honor of the "Online Popular City ".
To advance global urban governance and
innovative development, Guangzhou, the UCLG and Metropolis created the
Guangzhou Award in 2012, which is held every two years. It has gone through a
ten-year journey. Each cycle of the Guangzhou Award has attracted more than 150
cities from more than 50 countries to participate, and has so far collected
more than 1,300 cases of urban governance innovation from all over the world,
providing significant reference for cities around the world to enhance their
urban governance capacity.
Against the background of the global
pandemic, this cycle of the Award still received 273 project submissions from
175 cities of 60 countries and regions, the numbers of participating cities and
projects at par with those of previous years. It reflects the growing attention
paid to urban governance innovation and sustainable development by the world in the face of the pandemic, and highlights the increasing international appeal and
influence of Guangzhou Award.
From November 8 to 10, the
representatives of shortlisted cities were divided into four groups, namely
"inclusive cities", "innovative cities", "resilient
cities" and "green cities", to present their projects and take
questions from the audience, including the experts of the jury. According to Yu
Keping, chairman of the fifth Guangzhou Award jury, the selection criteria for
the award-winning projects by the jury members are innovation, participation,
influence, importance, replicability, learnability and inclusiveness. The five
projects that win the final award are widely representative in terms of their
diverse innovation themes, geographical locations, development levels and city
sizes. "They meet the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), and indicate
the important role of urban innovation in improving residents' lives, advancing
civilization and progress, and containing the pandemic. In this sense, these
cases have a significant guiding role in the future global urban
innovation".
It is worth mentioning
that Chongqing, China is granted the Award with its initiative of
"Innovative emergency solutions to pandemic-related urban medical waste
disposal". It provides a model of collaboration, which involves a large
number of people based on a clear division of responsibilities, thus enabling
quick responses to an emergency. It provides a good model for emergency
disposal of medical waste for improving urban safety resilience under pandemic
and also alerts other cities in the world the importance of medical waste
disposal in controlling the spread of disease. Moreover, Vienna,
Austria becomes a second-time winner in ten years' time. Recognized by the
first Guangzhou Award with the initiative "New Immigrant
Integration", it is selected as the winner again for "Werkstadt
Junges Wien" initiative in this cycle.
On the same night, Octavi de la
Varga, Secretary-General of Metropolis announced the result of the painting
contest "Metropolises through Children's Eyes". The award ceremony of
the contest wrapped up the 2021 Global Mayors' Forum, the 13th World Congress
of the World Association of Metropolis and the 5th Guangzhou International
Award for Urban Innovation.
In the past few days, under the theme
"Moving Forward Together, Modernizing Global Urban Governance" and
"Metropolises and Cities in Transformation: Rethinking our Future
Together", more than 800 urban manager, heads of international
organizations, specialists and experts from 126 cities and 9 international
organizations engaged actively in the discussion of the advanced experience of
local government governance and the future path of urban international
cooperation, so as to make suggestions for improving urban governance and
accelerating global economic recovery in the post Covid-19 period.
Zhang Shuofu, Secretary of CPC Guangzhou
Committee; Wen Guohu, Mayor of Guangzhou; Shi Qizhu, Director of the
Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress; Li Yiwei, CPPCC
Chairman; Cang Feng, Deputy Director General of Guangdong Foreign Affairs
Office; other leading officials of Guangzhou, including Pan Jianguo, Wang
Huanqing, Zhang Yajie, and the officials from foreign consulates general
in Guangzhou attended the offline activities.
List of winners and words from the Jury
VIENNA, AUSTRIA:
Werkstadt Junges Wien
Over the past 50
years, Vienna has shifted from a shrinking and ageing city into a
young and growing one. How to stimulate children and youth to participate in
city decision-making and management? Vienna rolls out an innovation
plan -- Werkstadt Junges Wien. The objective is to put social inclusion of all
children and young people living and growing up in Vienna at the
heart of policy-making and city administration.
CHONGQING, CHINA
Innovative
emergency solutions to pandemic-related urban medical waste disposal
Due to Covid-19, there has been a surge
in urban medical waste. How to effectively dispose urban medical waste, thus
preventing secondary infection and virus spread? The Chongqing Municipal
Ecological Environmental Bureau used an innovative emergency solution of
"3-Level Emergency Mechanism". This solution combines a novel
technology to deal with urban medical waste disposal with strict supervision of
hospitals. It was implemented in Chongqing to ensure effective
regulation and disposal of medical waste.
QUITO, ECUADOR:
Eco-efficiency
tool for the Metropolitan District of Quito
In 2016, guided by the Eco-Efficiency
Ordinance for the Metropolitan District of Quito, Quito has
relied on partnerships with community leaders and universities to not only determine
the parameters of local area plans around transit stations, but also
incentivize the construction of high density "green" buildings on key
transport nodes and with provisions for affordable housing. In addition, the
Ordinance also provides for land value capture to ensure that the city retains
a financial share of increments generated by greater density and land use
allowances in designated zones.
UNION OF DANNIEH
MUNICIPALITIES, LEBANON
COVID-19
Emergency Response Plan
The COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan of
the Union of Dannieh Municipalities, Lebanon can cope with the
consequence of Covid-19, make up for the shortage in staff and funding, and
encourage citizens (especially young people) to participate in co-governance.
With the support of Civil Society Organizations(CSOs), the union of Dannieh has
established an Emergency Response Plan with 15 committees of highly educated
youth volunteers.
DEPARTMENTAL COUNCIL OF SAINT
LOUIS, SENEGAL
Inter-municipal
approach to safeguard mangrove ecosystems
The mangroves
of Saint-Louis (1,000 ha) are threatened with extinction due to
climatic and anthropogenic pressures. To restore these mangroves, the
Departmental Council of Saint Louis in Senegal developed an
innovative approach to environmental governance -- Inter-municipal approach to
safeguard mangrove ecosystems, which integrated the restoration of mangrove
ecosystems across three municipalities with strategies for addressing urgent
urban climate challenges and enhancing livelihoods.
Winner of "Online Popular
City":
Odisha, INDIA:
Urban Wage
Employment Initiative
The national lockdown caused by COVID-19
in India has led to an exodus of the urban workforce. How to ensure
their wages and livelihood? The provincial government of
Odisha, India launched Urban Wage Employment Initiative (UWEI)
whereby the urban workforce has been guaranteed a minimum number of workdays
annually at specified daily wage. The workers are being engaged in public works
and the resources are drawn from on-going welfare schemes of the national and
provincial governments.
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