Award winners announced

Australia's Brisbane, China's Fuzhou, Malaysia's George Town of Penang, Uganda's Kampala, and Brazil's Salvador won the inaugural Global Award for Sustainable Development in Cities (Shanghai Award), issued at the opening ceremony of the World Cities Day China Observance held in Shanghai on Saturday.
The five cities were recognized for their innovations in implementing the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda in recent years, and the award was set to boost urban sustainable development around the world, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat, and the Shanghai municipal government, which jointly presented the award.
Four major dimensions — economic vitality and urban prosperity, ecological construction and green development, urban safety and resilience development, and capacity building for sustainable development — were the main factors that the award focuses on.

Brisbane, Australia
As the fastest growing city in Australia, Brisbane has developed an ambitious, but at the same time realistic vision, into a long-term development plan. The city creatively integrates data, technology, urban planning, and a sound financial economic model, with social and institutional innovations.
The strategy for re-layout of the inner city — which was deprived of more space for growth — with affordable housing solutions, new forms of connectivity and sustainable transport are commendable solutions.
Brisbane's unique coastline characteristics have led to a significant amount of planning exploration and action in the city. These activities along the coastline not only increase public awareness of climate change issues, but also create strong public support for the city's sustainable development.

Fuzhou, China
Fuzhou is a typical coastal megacity that has managed complex river ecosystems to cope with the impacts of climate change. It will adopt a low-carbon development model in the long term to develop high-tech businesses, the digital economy, the marine industry, cultural tourism and other industries.
The city takes urban resilience and safety as its bottom line, implements urban water system management projects, optimizes water resource allocation, and reduces water use and waste. It promotes sustainable environmental strategies and builds a green, low-carbon, eco-friendly city that is a "city of a thousand gardens".
Fuzhou has built 18 sustainable development community pilot projects, with many regional organizations participating in them. This is also a valuable experience that other cities can learn from.
One of the typical cases of comprehensive management of Fuzhou's water system is the Liuhuaxi project, which has enhanced the city's water security and flood control capabilities, improved the living conditions of residents along Liuhuaxi, and accelerated inland shipping and tourism, heritage protection, and social welfare and equitable development.

George Town of Penang, Malaysia
George Town in Penang, as an important trading port in Malaysia, is a hub of industry, cultural tourism and creative economy, as well as a world cultural heritage site.
To meet the challenges of climate change and realize sustainable development, Penang proposed the Penang2030 Vision, based on the natural climate adaptability and public and multi-agent participation, and implemented a series of comprehensive urban governance measures, including: investing in creative and culture-related infrastructure to increase employment and economic opportunities; implementing the safe city plan; formulating the comprehensive disaster reduction and risk management; urban renewal of low-cost housing; responding to the rapid urbanization and environmental problems, continuously introducing policies and plans, and launching the Energy Management Plan.
Penang has built a progressive and resilient economy, a cleaner green environment, cultural diversity and sustainable development capacity.

Kampala, Uganda
As a major player in the national Economy contributing over 65 percent of Uganda's GDP, Kampala has developed a five-year development plan for 2020-25, which is hinged on four pillars that are economic growth, governance and citizens engagement, quality of life and city resilience.
Kampala has developed a forward-looking plan that incorporates the multiple dimensions of the city's sustainable development goals within its established development practices and development plans, and has developed a program for their implementation.

Salvador, Brazil
The city of Salvador has adopted a systematic development process and carried out specific and diversified planning refinement and deepening in accordance with the SDG 11.
To ensure that the implementation of the plan is closer to the needs of the people and the actual situation, the city has widely listened to public opinions and suggestion.
In addition, in response to Salvador's unique terrain and coastline, the city has formulated a series of targeted climate change response measures, demonstrating an urban development model in the context of climate change and providing valuable demonstration and guidance for other cities.
This comprehensive and forward-looking planning strategy makes the city of Salvador an important example in sustainable urban development.
For example, Solar Salvador uses public policies to stimulate the use of photovoltaic solar energy and seeks to generate environmental and social impacts, including stimulating the local economy, creating new job opportunities, reducing energy costs and reducing energy consumption, in a bid to link sustainable development with innovation