Bilbao, Hamburg and London triumph at Eurocities Awards

Bilbao, Hamburg and London scooped the top prizes at the Eurocities Awards 2023. This year’s awards showcase cities’ unique approach to working on global challenges in times where multiple crises threaten the future of our society.

The 2023 winners impressed judges for their outstanding sustainability, community and youth projects carried out the previous year:

- Hamburg won in the

Managing the energy crisis sustainably

award category with MySmartLife. The project established a foundation for an innovative urban transformation strategy to get rid of fossil fuels.

- Bilbao won in the

From human global mobility to local community cohesion

category with Diversitours. This intercultural community project aimed to put the focus on the contribution of migrant groups to the development of the city through guided tours in three neighbourhoods.

- London won in the

Young people co-creating public spaces

category with Seen & Heard. This research and engagement project was designed to give young people (aged 16-24) a voice in management of their local public space. It took place in the London Borough of Brent.

The award winners are an endless source of inspiration for successfully turning challenges into solutions,

said Burkhard Jung, President of Eurocities and Mayor of Leipzig.

Against the background of the climate and energy crisis, war in Europe, and an uncertain future for our youth, Hamburg, Bilbao and London spearheaded positive change, paving the way for others to follow in their footsteps,

The awards ceremony took place on 14 June 2023 during the Brussels Urban Summit event, co-hosted by Eurocities.

Entries were judged by an independent jury of five, made up of representatives from the conference host city, an expert on urban issues, civil society, the EU institutions and the media. This year’s expert panel included: Pascal Smet, Brussels Capital Region’s State Secretary; Gabrielle Bernoville, Policy Assistant at the EU Commission’s Directorate for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture; Cornelia Forsthuber, Programme Director Young leaders, Urban Future; Farras Fathi, Future Mentor from the city of Munich; Sarah Wray, Cities Today Editor.

The Eurocities Awards showcase outstanding achievements by Eurocities member cities in the delivery of local activities or practices which improve the quality of life for citizens. Nine cities were shortlisted for the prizes across the three categories: Barcelona, Hamburg and the Hague competed in the ‘Managing the Energy Crisis sustainably’ category; Bilbao, Ghent and Rzeszow in the ‘From human global mobility to local community cohesion’ category; Leeds, London and Lublin in the ‘Young people co-creating public spaces’ category.

Take a closer look at the work of the nine shortlisted finalists: https://eurocities.eu/latest/eurocities-awards-for-sustainabil... Check out the nine finalists’ video presentations on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvzHLhum83vuj7VCcJVTbRa... For award ceremony photos, please contact: Daniela Berretta, [email protected] Mob: +32 492 3617 16 From 12-15 June 2023, the Brussels Urban Summit gathers over 600 cities worldwide and more than 2,000 politicians, experts and representatives of civil society to exchange ideas and envision a future of sustainable, affordable, and liveable cities. Eurocities wants to make cities places where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life, is able to move around safely, access quality and inclusive public services and benefit from a healthy environment. We do this by networking almost 200 larger European cities, which together represent some 150 million people across 38 countries, and by gathering evidence of how policy making impacts on people to inspire other cities and EU decision makers.

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Daniela Berretta, [email protected]