On the evening of November 16, 2012, the Awarding Ceremony of Guangzhou International Award on Urban Innovation was held in Guangzhou Opera House. The initiatives by Kocaeli of Turkey, Lilongwe of Malawi, Seoul of the Republic of Korea, Vancouver of Canada and Vienna of Austria stood out among all the initiatives and won the first Guangzhou Award.

A total of 255 initiatives from 153 cities of 56 countries and regions were submitted to vie for the first Guangzhou Award. In mid-October of 2012, fifteen nominated cities and thirty deserving cities were announced. Eventually, five cities were selected from the fifteen nominated cities to claim the award. Guangzhou was selected as one of the thirty deserving cities thanks to its initiative of indemnificatory housing.

The first winning city: Kocaeli (Turkey)

Kocaeli of Turkey was the first city to claim the title of the Guangzhou Award. Zhong Nanshan, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering announced Kocaeli the first winning city of the Guangzhou Award. While accepting the award, the Turkish representative indicated, “I’m very surprised that Kocaeli is the first winning city announced. What an honor for Turkey! I think that in order to achieve the best result, one must do it with honesty and simplicity.”

·Award Statement

Having undergone the devastating aftermath of the Marmara Earthquake, the city of Kocaeli come to a resolute determination that it should no longer co-exist with the risks of earthquake as it did before. The city has accumulated a large amount of detailed information on earthquake risks and put it to good use in reassessing building standards and formulating basic development policies.

In addition, the city encourages its citizens, teenagers and people with disabilities included, to engage in activities aimed at igniting the public awareness of innovation. The public of the city have established a solid cooperative relationship with the national government, technical institutions and local chambers of commerce.

·A Brief Introduction to the Initiative

Precautionary Approach – Learning How to Survive an Earthquake

One specific innovation of the initiative is the way it coordinates the emergency management agencies, including NGOs, Universities, research centers, and local government agencies for the establishment of an emergency preparation system that the city so desperately needs. A good partnership has been built among local governments, the federal government and industrial sectors to improve the responsiveness of the program. In addition, the program is replicable and has been adopted by cities outside Kocaeli. Testing and education are the two most important components of the initiative. By simulating an earthquake site with the use of earthquake simulators, the initiative helps people learn how to survive an earthquake.

The Second Winning City: Lilongwe (Malawi)   

Kadir Topbas, the UCLG president presented the award to the second winning city, Lilongwe of Malawi. A Lilongwe representative accepted the award and said, “What a wonderful moment! My colleagues and I have been working tirelessly just for moments like this. This is an incredible honor to Lilongwe. This occasion of me holding this award will remain a lifelong memory of mine. A special thanks to everyone here.”

·Award Statement

Since the 1990s, during the transitional process of democratization, Lilongwe underwent a decade of regress featuring ineffective government supervision and backward services. Fortunately, by combining with leadership and other appropriate tools, the supervision program of Johannesburg helped the City of Lilongwe rebuild its confidence.

Lilongwe has established a unique management system based on achievements, which has registered an exceptional record in improving services, increasing government revenues and making individual labor more effective. Currently, the city is committed to enhancing its infrastructure and the living standards of its people.

·A Brief Introduction to the Initiative

The Lilongwe-Johannesburg cities mentorship initiative

On the management front, Lilongwe City Council (LCC) has computerized much of its accounting and billing system, resulting in improvements in transparency, accountability and efficiency. The LCC also has set up a performance management system by optimizing its accountability mechanism. In regard to shelter and land component, Lilongwe has attracted sizable external investment and government funding. The initiative clearly illustrates how cities can help each other to improve their governance and their sustainability. 

Originally drawing upon experience from Johannesburg, the Lilongwe mentorship initiative later on underwent improvement and revision. The city council of Lilongwe developed it into a tool for enhancing urban management and widely spread it to other African countries.

The Third Winning City: Seoul (the Republic of Korea) 

Yu Keping, a member of the jury announced Seoul the third winning city, while Zhu Xiaodan, governor of Guangdong Province presented the Guangzhou Award to the Seoul representative. The representative stated, “A special thanks to Guangzhou for hosting this great event. My country has worked tirelessly to resolve youth-related issues. Our young people deserve our intensive attention.”

·Award Statement

Unlike other cities that talk a great game but take no concrete action, Seoul has successfully handled two social problems. One problem is that girls drop out of school and fall into prostitution. The other problem is that young people are addicted to the Internet. In these two cases, Seoul changes the social customs and conventions by viewing young people as victims of urban development rather than criminals. The city is taking various measures to help these young people become citizens of tomorrow, including consultancy and training.

·A Brief Introduction to the Initiative

Dealing with Challenges Facing Youth and Improving the Transparency of the Initiative

The initiative is designed to tackle challenges brought about by rapid urban development. By taking full advantage of the Internet, the initiative consists of the following two sections. The first is a Youth Prostitution Prevention Project, which uses local network and attracts public involvement to prevent teenagers from falling into prostitution and to provide them with a way of living that replaces prostitution. The second seeks to tackle with the growing problem of Internet addiction. By responding to youth Internet addiction, the initiative is aimed at building a healthy Seoul with no teenager addicted to the Internet.

The Fourth Winning City: Vancouver (Canada) 

Before announcing Vancouver the fourth winning city, Academician He Jingtang said that currently, many cities were faced with the problem of homogeneity and lack of cultural uniqueness. As such, Academician He suggested that buildings should be designed to improve people’s life. Qiu Yuanping, deputy director of International Communication Office of the CPC presented the award to Vancouver representative. The representative stated, “Everyone acts as an agent for urban development, and the key is to serve the people. By working together, the people can build cities into a better place.”  

·Award Statement

Vancouver has long been famous for its commitment to planning for sustainability. It seeks to deal with social, economic and environmental problems not only by formulating individual projects but also by adopting comprehensive and cross-division approaches. It also employs innovative financial institutions and urban designs. The city is committed to achieving its goal of becoming the greenest city, with full awareness that reasonable housing policies and strategies are needed so that all its citizens can benefit from urban development.

·A Brief Introduction to the Initiative

Visionary Vancouver -- creating a welcoming and sustainable place for all!

This initiative builds on the city’s long track record in sustainability, but orienting its policies and practical solutions to serve the needs of the future generations. It has three framework themes – Zero Carbon, Zero Waste, and Healthy Eco-systems.

In 2012, Vancouver has completed the construction of 1,400 new houses especially for economically-difficult families. A special agreement has been signed between the construction project and high-level government institutions, which stipulates that no income tax be levied on these houses provided that they are not put up for sale.

The Fifth Winning City: Vienna (Austria) 

The final winning city was announced by Long Yongtu, former deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, while the award was presented by Luo Fuhe, deputy chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. The Vienna representative stated, “Thank you very much for giving us such a wonderful award”.

·Award Statement

Compared with many of its neighboring cities, Vienna is growing at a fast pace, which is largely attributable to a massive influx of immigrants. Vienna has designed a number of one-stop services to help new immigrants adapt to their new life and better integrate into the new society. Through this initiative, new immigrants can have full access to detailed and important information on housing, healthcare, education and employment. The services are provided in 24 languages, with the information continuously updated.

“New Life in Vienna” -- Social inclusion, Energy Optimization and Green Procurement

Vienna’s initiatives in the fields of environmental, energy and social issues demonstrate a clear capacity to innovate, on a continuing basis, in many policy directions. The “Start Wien” program is designed to help new immigrants integrate into the local society.

Since the initiative was incepted, over 12,000 people have participated in it. Over 25,000 people have participated in its information section, while about 4,800 new immigrants have been included into the second-phase training session of the program.