Jump to content

World Mayor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

World Mayor is a biennial award organized by the City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of cities, nationally and internationally. The organisers make it plain that the award has no connection with any city or organization and is run on strictly non-commercial lines. Helen Zille and Leopoldo Lopez discussed their 2008 nominations on the BBC World Service programme Outlook. The Guardian looked at contenders for the 2014 prize.[1] The 2018 World Mayor Project was dedicated to women mayors.[2] The 2020 World Mayor Project is dedicated to mayors who have made the relief of poverty one of their top priorities.[3] The winner of the 2021 World Mayor Prize Ahmed Aboutaleb was presented with his award at a ceremony held in the Dutch Senate by its President Jan Anthonie Bruijn.[4]

The 2024 World Mayor Prize will be dedicated to Friendship between Cities. It will be awarded to a mayor and city that have made outstanding contributions to friendship and cooperation between towns and cities at home and across borders.

The City Mayors Foundation commissions the trophy presented as the World Mayor Prize. The trophy was designed by artist Manuel Ferrari and is handmade out of steel by the metalworker Kaspar Swankey.[5]

Notable recipients

[edit]

Notable winners include (subsequent political offices): Edi Rama (Prime Minister of Albania), Dora Bakoyannis (Greek foreign minister) and Marcelo Ebrard (Mexican foreign minister), while runners-up (or top 10 finalists) have included Andrés Manuel López Obrador (President of Mexico), Job Cohen (Dutch Labour opposition leader), Joko Widodo (President of Indonesia), Gavin Newsom (Governor of California), Leopoldo López (Venezuelan opposition leader), Cory Booker (US Senator) and John Hickenlooper (US Senator and former Governor of Colorado).

Riace (Italy) mayor Domenico Lucano, who came third in the 2010 poll, was arrested in October 2018 on various immigration-related charges. The mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz, who was assassinated in January 2019, had ranked ninth in the 2016 poll.

City Mayors Foundation

[edit]

The City Mayors Foundation, also known as City Mayors, is an international think tank dedicated to urban affairs.[6] It has been active since 2003 and runs the biennial World Mayor Prize, as well as providing pro bono consultancy services. Unlike Eurocities and United Cities and Local Governments it is wholly independent of any city.[7]

Winners of the World Mayor Prize

[edit]
Year Name Mayor of Reference
2004 Edi Rama Albania Tirana [1]
2005 Dora Bakoyannis Greece Athens [2]
2006 John So Australia Melbourne [3]
2008 Helen Zille South Africa Cape Town [4]
2010 Marcelo Ebrard Mexico Mexico City [5]
2012 Iñaki Azkuna Spain Bilbao [6]
2014 Naheed Nenshi Canada Calgary [7]
2016 Bart Somers Belgium Mechelen [8]
2018 Valeria Mancinelli Italy Ancona [9]
2021 Ahmed Aboutaleb Netherlands Rotterdam [10]
Philippe Rio France Grigny [11]
2023 Elke Kahr Austria Graz [12]

Runners up (Commendations)

[edit]
Year Name Mayor of Reference
2004 Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Hazel McCallion, Martin O’Malley, Gavin Newsom Mexico Mexico City, Canada Mississauga, United States Baltimore, United States San Francisco [13]
2005 Hazel McCallion, Álvaro Arzú, Oscar Samson Rodriguez, Gavin Newsom Canada Mississauga, Guatemala Guatemala City, Philippines San Fernando, United States San Francisco [14]
2006 Job Cohen, Stephen Reed, Jejomar Binay, Michel Thiollière Netherlands Amsterdam, United States Harrisburg, Philippines Makati, France St Etienne [15]
2008 Elmar Ledergerber, Leopoldo Eduardo López, Phil Gordon, Ulrich Maly Switzerland Zürich, Venezuela Chacao, United States Phoenix, Germany Nürnberg [16]
2010 Mick Cornett, Domenico Lucano, Dianne Watts, Campbell Newman United States Oklahoma City, Italy Riace, Canada Surrey, Australia Brisbane [17]
2012 Lisa Scaffidi, Joko Widodo, Régis Labeaume, John F Cook Australia Perth, Indonesia Surakarta, Canada Québec City, United States El Paso [18]
2014 Daniël Termont, Tri Rismaharini, Carlos Ocariz, Jed Patrick Mabilog Belgium Ghent, Indonesia Surabaya, Venezuela Sucre, Philippines Iloilo City [19]
2016 Wolfgang Müller [de], Georgios Kaminis, Giusi Nicolini, Richard Arnold Germany Lahr, Greece Athens, Italy Lampedusa, Germany Schwäbisch Gmünd [20]
2018 Ros Jones, Nathalie Appéré, Charlotte Britz, Beng Climaco United Kingdom Doncaster, France Rennes, Germany Saarbrücken, Philippines Zamboanga City [21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Leach, Anna (30 December 2014). "Who will be crowned the world's best mayor for 2014?". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "World Mayor 2018: Raison d'etre". www.worldmayor.com.
  3. ^ "World Mayor 2020: Mayors fighting Poverty". www.worldmayor.com.
  4. ^ "Presentation of the 2021 World Mayor Prize". www.worldmayor.com.
  5. ^ "Kaspar Swankey". swankeypankey.com. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  6. ^ Newing, Rod (18 May 2010). "Funding and social capital are key factors in financing regeneration". FT.com. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  7. ^ "City Mayors: About City Mayors". citymayors.com. 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
[edit]