I. Metshin: “Cities, like athletes, need to keep themselves in good shape”

(KZN.RU, September 17, Ekaterina Vislavskaya). Kazan entered the top 15 of the IV International Guangzhou Prize for Urban Innovation. The city could become its winner by the results of the presentation of the project of the Committee for Economic Development of the Executive Committee “Innovative Social and Economic Development of Kazan”, which will be held in December. Artur Valikhmetov, the chairman of the committee, told at the Business Monday about the competition between the leading cities of the world.

“The prize is aimed at showing the importance of innovation, improving the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of settlements. All of this leads to an increase in the well-being and quality of citizens’ life of”, he explained. He said that it is co-financed by the “United Cities and Local Government”, the World Association of the world's largest cities and the city of Guangzhou.

In different years, the winners of the prize were cities such as Vienna, Vancouver, Seoul, Boston, Copenhagen, and others. In 2018, 313 applications from 213 cities from 70 countries were submitted for participation in the competition. Shortlist of 15 applicants for the victory was announced on September 12 at a seminar on urban innovation in the framework of the 7th Congress of the World Organization “United Cities and Local Government”. The final with the presentation of projects will be held from 5 to 9 of December as part of the International Conference of Urban Innovations in Guangzhou. 5 winners will be selected from 15 cities. Each of them will receive a certificate, a memorable gift, and a cash prize of 20 thousand dollars.

“Cities are also competing among themselves. There are international competitions for this. We must constantly keep ourselves in good shape, participate in competitions”, said Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, commenting on the results of the qualifying round.