The Bay Awards international prizes

On 9 and 10 October 2024 Bilbao will host the “WRLDCTY & The Bay Awards Summit” Congress and “The Bay Awards” Gala.

Organised by Bilbao Metropoli 30 in collaboration with the international organisation WRLDCTY in the framework of its “Global Forum for Urban Innovation”, “WRLDCTY & The Bay Awards Summit” will take place at Euskalduna Bilbao on the 9th in a face-to-face format that will be broadcast online worldwide. The congress programme is now available, as well as the registration form at www.thebayawards.com.

In order to publicise the transformation process of Metropolitan Bilbao, a Learning Journey will be offered to international delegations visiting us on 8 October.

The Bay Awards Gala will take place on the 10th at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and will serve as a stage to announce the winners of the first edition of the awards promoted by Bilbao Metropoli 30 to recognise good practice in the development of cities and urban life worldwide.

The cities of Melbourne (Australia), Curitiba (Brazil) and Vienna (Austria) will compete for the first prize in the Urban Pioneers category, designed to reward successful urban models that have become global benchmarks. In this sense, in addition to choosing the three finalists in each category, the jury has decided to award the city of Glasgow in Scotland a special mention in the Urban Pioneers Award category, in recognition of its transformation from a post-industrial city to a leading knowledge-based economy.

In choosing the three finalists for the Urban Pioneers Award, the Bay Awards jury members took into account the commitment to sustainability of the selected cities and their efforts to improve the quality of life of their people. Curitiba’s Bus Rapid Transit system, Vienna’s Smart Climate City strategy and Melbourne’s carbon neutrality policy were key factors in selecting the finalists for this award, which is supported by Bilbao City Council.

The SDG Champions Award, led by the Basque Government, is aimed at initiatives that have tangibly enabled the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda to be rolled out and deployed in ways that closely engage citizens and their participation. In this case, the projects selected were the commitment of Bogotá (Colombia) to women and care, the ‘Liter of Light’ initiative, the largest climate action led by young people in the Philippines and Dubai (UAE), and the sustainable refugee camp in Minawao (Cameroon).

The aim of the Prosperity Catalyst Award is to recognise places and projects that have succeeded in generating prosperity in their communities, as well as promoting the redistribution of wealth and social and territorial cohesion. In this field, the initiatives selected were those from London, with the collaborative project ‘Places for London’, from Buffalo (NY-USA) with the ‘East Side Avenues’ commercial corridors, and from South Africa, through its social employment project. The Bizkaia Provincial Council is a collaborative partner in this award.

In the case of the Horizon Shaper category, the focus is on initiatives that have conceptualised and developed a long-term strategic vision of their urban future through real transformations. In this case, the regenerative redevelopment of slums in Ahmednagar (India), the dementia-friendly neighbourhood project in Singapore, and the ‘city with a gender perspective’ initiative implemented in Amsterdam and Paris were selected by the jury. This award is supported by the BBK Fundazioa Foundation.

Finally, the Partners in Progress category, where the Port Authority of Bilbao and Petronor are collaborative partners, has come up with three very different scenarios as finalists. The Detroit Cultural District (USA), the Peace and Opportunities Strategy in Palmira (Colombia) in areas with crime problems, and the active ageing initiatives in Ramallah (Palestine) are examples of public-private collaboration that have led to a substantial improvement in the competitiveness and well-being of citizens, even in extremely complex situations.

The international jury of the Bay Awards is made up of five men and five women of renowned experience in the field of city management: Christian Bason, Gabriella Gómez-Mont, Sophie Howe, Geci Karuri-Sebina, David Miller, Carlos Moreno, Farah Naz, Larry Ng, Carmen Santana and Bruce Katz. The jury is coordinated by the two senior advisors, namely Charles Landry and Greg Clark, both experts in the field of urban planning. The local technical team, made up of Tecnalia, Gaia, Techfriendly and Naider, all of which are members of Bilbao Metropoli 30, conducted a pre-assessment as part of the process to select the finalists.

All the finalists have already been contacted and invited by Bilbao Metropoli 30 to attend the Awards Gala in Bilbao on 9 October, when the winners of this first edition of ‘The Bay Awards’ will be announced. Both the winning projects and the finalists will feature in a publication promoted by Bilbao Metropoli 30 to help consolidate an international platform of urban experiences and further strengthen the process of shared learning.

More information: www.thebayawards.com

Promotional video:

Launching video:

Why The Bay Awards (jury members):