For over five years, the Urban SDG Knowledge Platform has been the go-to place for CityNet member cities and organizations to share their best practices in sustainable urban development. To celebrate the platform’s fifth anniversary, CityNet created the SDG City Awards Program which culminated in a ceremony at the 9th CityNet Congress in Kuala Lumpur. This year, as part of our continued association, CityNet partnered with UN ESCAP to expand the scope and reach of the awards program.

The 2023 contest challenged cities and stakeholding organizations to submit case studies related to the four themes of the 8th Asia Pacific Urban Forum, which will be organized by ESCAP with support from CityNet in Suwon, ROK from 23-25 October. Cities competed on their innovative Urban Planning Policies, their action-oriented Climate Programs, the inclusiveness of their Digital Transformation strategies, and their creative solutions for improving Urban Financing.

Three esteemed judges worked in tandem to judge over 40 cases that were received throughout 2023. The cases were judged quantitatively via the following 7 criteria: innovation, leadership/governance, clear implementation, standard of quality, positive outcomes, long-term sustainability, and replicability. As urban policy experts, the judges also judged the cases on a qualitative basis, using their experience in their field as a guide.

The judges were:
• Mr. Vijay Jagannathan, Secretary General of CityNet
• Mr. Sangmin Nam, Director of the Environment & Development Division, UN ESCAP
• Mr. Luis Noda, Vice President of Asia Pacific, Habitat for Humanity International

Given the quality of the submitted best practices, ranking them was not an easy feat. In the end, it turned out to be quite a close race. A number of shortlisted cases came very close to victory. Without any further ado, the following winning case studies will be recognized at the SDG City Awards Ceremony on 25 October at the Suwon Convention Center. Let’s give a warm round of applause to:

(click on case names to view cases in detail)

• • Inclusive Low Carbon City Award
    Suwon, Republic of Korea
    “Carbon Neutrality Policy with Citizen Participation”
    
  • Urban Planning Award
    Colombo Municipal Council, Sri Lanka
    “Sustainable Solid Waste Management in the City of Colombo”
    
  • City Climate Action Award
    Muntinlupa, Philippines
    “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program”
    
  • Inclusive Urban Digital Transformation Award
    Songpa District (Seoul), Republic of Korea
    “Smart Doctor for Successful Urban Healthcare”
    
  • Urban Finance Award
    Yokohama, Japan
    “Y-SDGs”
    

Notable Shortlisted Cases (in alphabetical order):

• • Baguio “Baguio Streets for Children”
  • Balanga “Barangay Learning Hub”
  • Bandung “Black and Gray Wastewater Management to Create Clean and Useful Water”
  • CarbonCare InnoLab (Hong Kong), “SolarCare Programme”
  • Jakarta “Jakarta SATU Smart Spatial Planning through Geodatabase”
  • Kuala Lumpur “C40 Climate Finance Center”
  • Lalitpur “Robotics and Programming Education for Students in Public Schools”
  • Makati “Department of Environmental Services Webinar Program”
  • Quezon City “QCBPLD Digital Transformation”
  • Subang Jaya “Subang Jaya Community Empowerment Program”

All of these cases may be found in the Case Study Database on the Urban SDG Knowledge Platform. If you want to read them in more detail, please check them out!

Congratulations to the winners! CityNet members and beyond are encouraged to contribute best practices for next year’s CityNet ESCAP SDG City Awards Program. Please keep an eye out in early 2024 for news on the upcoming themes for the next contest.