BEIJING: The second Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities, or the Shanghai Award, will be presented abroad for the first time in Alexandria, Egypt, to five international cities on World Cities Day, which falls on Oct 31.
The award aims to further promote the concept that “cities should be built by the people and for the people”, which was put forward by President Xi Jinping in 2019, officials from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing, Urban-rural Development and Management said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
Five cities will be recognized for the achievements and innovations they have made while implementing the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda, said Liu Qianwei, chief engineer with the commission.
Economic vitality, urban prosperity, ecological construction, green development, urban safety, resilience development and capacity building for sustainable development were among the major criteria considered for prospective winners of the award, jointly presented by the UN Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat, and the Shanghai government.
Last year, Brisbane, Australia; Fuzhou, Fujian province in China; George Town, Malaysia; Kampala, Uganda; and Salvador, Brazil, won the inaugural Shanghai Award.
The English version of the 2024 Shanghai Manual, which aims to provide models of urban development for cities around the world, will also be released at the event in Alexandria. Eighteen cases from 12 countries and regions, covering urban renewal, biodiversity conservation, low-carbon development, information services, and technology and digital innovation, are outlined in the manual. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
