SINGAPORE – Vienna was on Monday (March 14) named the winner of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2020.
Jointly organised by Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Centre for Liveable Cities and sponsored by Keppel Corporation, it’s a biennial award recognising excellent contributions in the direction of the creation of vibrant, habitable and sustainable city communities.
The Austrian capital might be awarded the prize – an award certificates, a gold medallion and a money prize of $300,000, sponsored by Keppel Corporation – through the World Cities Summit in Singapore, which might be held from July 31 to Aug 3.
The jury quotation for the prize said that Vienna is lauded for “reinventing itself for success in the 21st century without losing its distinctive identity as a capital of culture, music and history”.
It has additionally taken on a number one position in addressing the worldwide challenges of local weather change.
For occasion, the Urban Development Plan of Vienna had set out plans to create extra open and inexperienced areas that may contribute to the decreasing of the city warmth island impact – the place city areas within the metropolis turn into hotter than rural areas.
It additionally adopted a sequence of flood safety measures since 1884, together with the development of a 21km flood bypass channel in 1989 known as New Danube. It acts as a closed physique of water for leisure actions and a public park throughout non-flood instances.
To create new infrastructure and inexpensive housing selections, town has began city redevelopment initiatives in Aspern Seestadt and Nordbahnhof.
In these new city centres, residents can stroll or cycle to workplaces and recreation nodes by lively mobility networks, or take inexpensive public transport choices such because the metro, trams and buses.
Currently, 28 per cent of residents stroll, 38 per cent use public transport, 7 per cent cycle, whereas the remaining 27 per cent use motorised transport.
Vienna additionally encourages its individuals to take part in growth processes, akin to by having platforms for its residents to form public areas. For instance, the Grätzloase (Neighbourhood Oasis) is a ground-up initiative that transforms parking lanes into “parklets” – a spot for the neighborhood to work together.
Dr Cheong Koon Hean, chairman of the prize nominating committee, stated: “Even as the world faces a climate emergency, Vienna is an exemplar of responsible environmental stewardship for its region.”
Vienna’s mayor, Dr Michael Ludwig, stated he was proud and grateful for Vienna’s win.
“We will continue on our consistent path of high quality of life for everyone through social and technical innovation in all areas, while maximising conservation of resources and thus resume to be a reliable partner for others,” he added.
Special mentions have been awarded to a few different cities – Antwerp in Belgium, Boston within the United States and Lisbon in Portugal.
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