Deadline: 31-Jul-23

The 6th Guangzhou Award is now calling for participation from all cities and local governments around the world with ongoing or recently completed initiatives, including those that are implemented in collaboration with private and civil society partners.

The aim of the Guangzhou Award is to recognize innovation in improving social, economic, and environmental sustainability and good urban governance in cities and regions and, in doing so, to advance the prosperity and quality of life of their citizens. So far five cycles have been held, attracting over 1,300 initiatives worldwide. It has become a global platform for city-to-city learning and the documentation, dissemination, and analysis of the local implementation of global agendas including SDGs and New Urban Agenda (NUA).

The Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (Guangzhou Award) is co-sponsored by the City of Guangzhou, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the World Association of the Major Metropolises (Metropolis).

The thematic areas include but are not limited to the followings: social inclusion and shared prosperity, environmental protection and resilience, public services and infrastructure, urban heritage and cultural preservation, smart cities and technology governance.By advocating exchanges and mutual learning, they hope to bring together the urban synergy for sustainable development.

Objectives

The objectives of the Guangzhou Award are to:

• Recognize innovation as a key contributing factor in meeting the social, economic, environmental and governance challenges facing a rapidly changing world;
• Promote the sharing and exchange of lessons learned from successful innovation;
• Provide a platform for the documentation, dissemination and analysis of the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda.

Award Details

• The Guangzhou Award will be discerned to up to five (5) cities for each award cycle.
• Each of the winning cities will receive a USD 20,000 cash prize, a trophy and a commemorative certificate designed for the award.
• The winners of the Guangzhou Award are also invited to attend special events including the Global Mayors’ Forum, an exhibition and the award ceremony.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Guangzhou Award is open to all cities and regions worldwide, including members of UCLG and Metropolis.
• An initiative that is entered for the Guangzhou Award should meet the following eligibility criteria:
  • It should be an original undertaking such as a new policy, project, business model or practice that promotes social, economic and/or environmental sustainability in a city or region;
  • It should be an ongoing or recently completed initiative (within the past two years);
  • It should provide evidence and/or indicators of substantial impact and/or success in meeting the initiative’s stated objective(s).
• The Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities, and the New Urban Agenda serve as the overarching guidelines on the thematic areas and domains covered by the Guangzhou Award. For the New Urban Agenda, particular focus is being placed on urban planning and design, financing urban development, access to affordable housing, infrastructure and services.
• Submissions that do not succeed in being selected for the Guangzhou Award may re-submit in subsequent cycles should there be new evidence or indicators of impact or change.
• Cities and local authorities are encouraged to submit up to three initiatives that support a given policy including those that are implemented in collaboration with private and civil society partners.

For more information, visit Guangzhou Award.