A global conversation about how to run a city well
In Seoul, at the close of September, Guangzhou extended an invitation to the world's cities — not merely for recognition, but for the harder work of shared learning. The seventh edition of the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation opens a global conversation about how cities govern themselves in an age of climate pressure, inequality, and rapid growth. Across thirteen years and six prior editions, more than sixteen hundred submissions from over one hundred countries have made this award something rarer than a competition: a living archive of what actually works when cities try to solve the problems of human life together.
- Cities worldwide face mounting crises — climate disruption, housing scarcity, social fracture — that no single government can solve in isolation, and the urgency of that reality hung over the Seoul ceremony.
- The award's organizers, Guangzhou alongside UCLG and Metropolis, are pushing back against the isolation of local innovation by building a platform where solutions cross borders before problems do.
- Global leaders Jordi Vaquer and Emilia Saiz framed the award not as a trophy but as infrastructure — a mechanism for accelerating knowledge transfer and preventing cities from repeating each other's costly mistakes.
- The symbolic unrolling of a scroll on stage, with representatives from four institutions standing together, signaled that the call for submissions is meant to be taken as a serious global commitment, not ceremonial decoration.
- The seventh edition is now open, drawing cities toward a deadline with a clear directive: share your best experiments, your hard-won answers, and let what works in one place become available everywhere else.
On a Monday morning in late September, officials from three continents gathered in Seoul to open a competition — though calling it merely that undersells what the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation has become over thirteen years. Hu Hao, vice mayor of Guangzhou, announced that the seventh edition was now accepting applications, doing so at the Metropolis Board of Directors Meeting, itself marking four decades of the organization's existence.
The award was born in 2012 from a partnership between Guangzhou, the United Cities and Local Governments organization, and Metropolis. Its premise is disarmingly simple: cities solve problems every day, but those solutions almost never travel. The award exists to change that — identifying the best local practices, honoring them, and broadcasting them to cities facing the same challenges elsewhere.
Six editions have drawn more than sixteen hundred submissions from over one hundred countries, covering everything from climate adaptation and affordable housing to public health and cultural preservation. Each submission represents a city saying: here is what we tried, here is what worked. Metropolis Secretary-General Jordi Vaquer and UCLG Secretary-General Emilia Saiz both spoke at the ceremony, framing the award as infrastructure for global problem-solving rather than a trophy hunt. When a city in Southeast Asia learns how a city in Latin America managed its water, or how a European city cut emissions while creating jobs, that knowledge transfer can save years of costly trial and error.
The ceremony closed with representatives from all four partner institutions unrolling a scroll together — a gesture meant to signal genuine openness, not mere pageantry. The seventh edition is now open. Cities are invited to send their innovations, their experiments, their answers to the questions that matter most. In a world where urban challenges grow more complex and most cities still face them alone, that invitation carries real weight.
In Seoul on a Monday morning in late September, officials from three continents gathered in a hotel conference room to open a competition. The occasion was formal—the Metropolis Board of Directors Meeting, marking forty years of the organization's existence—but the purpose was expansive. Hu Hao, vice mayor of Guangzhou, stood to announce that applications were now open for the seventh iteration of the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation, an honor that has spent the last thirteen years quietly becoming one of the world's most consequential platforms for how cities actually govern themselves.
The award itself is a joint creation, born in 2012 from a partnership between Guangzhou, the United Cities and Local Governments organization (UCLG), and Metropolis, a network of the world's largest metropolitan areas. Its premise is straightforward: cities solve problems. They do it every day—managing traffic, housing people, keeping water clean, protecting vulnerable populations. Most of the time, these solutions stay local, known only to the officials who built them and the residents who live with them. The Guangzhou Award exists to change that. It identifies the best of these practices, celebrates them, and broadcasts them to other cities facing similar challenges.
The numbers tell the story of its reach. Across six previous editions, the award has drawn more than sixteen hundred submissions from cities and local governments spanning over one hundred countries and regions. That is not a niche competition. That is a global conversation about how to run a city well. The submissions cover the full spectrum of urban life: climate adaptation, social equity, affordable housing, public health, economic development, cultural preservation. Each one represents a city saying, here is what we tried, here is what worked.
Jordi Vaquer, secretary-general of Metropolis, and Emilia Saiz, secretary-general of UCLG, both spoke at the Seoul ceremony. They framed the award not as a trophy hunt but as infrastructure for global problem-solving. In their view, the award has become essential precisely because cities face challenges that transcend borders. Climate change does not respect municipal boundaries. Neither does inequality, or the need for resilient infrastructure, or the pressure to build sustainably while accommodating growth. When a city in Southeast Asia learns how a city in Latin America solved a water management problem, or how a European city reduced emissions while creating jobs, that knowledge transfer has real weight. It can save years of trial and error. It can prevent mistakes. It can accelerate solutions.
The ceremony itself carried symbolic weight. Representatives from Guangzhou, UCLG, Metropolis, and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries took the stage together and unrolled a scroll—a gesture meant to represent a global call for submissions, a visual metaphor for opening doors. It was the kind of moment that might seem purely ceremonial until you remember that ceremony, done well, can signal genuine commitment. The scroll said: we are serious about this. We want your best ideas. We want to learn from you.
Now the seventh edition is open. Cities around the world can submit their innovations, their experiments, their solutions. The deadline and specific categories were not detailed in the announcement, but the invitation was clear: send us what you have built. Send us your answers to the questions that matter. The award will select winners, celebrate them, and ensure that what works in one place becomes available to cities everywhere else. In a world where urban problems are only growing more complex, and where most cities are solving them in isolation, that is no small thing.
Citas Notables
The award has become a vital platform for showcasing local governance experiences and advancing global sustainable agendas— Jordi Vaquer and Emilia Saiz, secretaries-general of Metropolis and UCLG
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Guangzhou, specifically, host this award? What makes them the right city to run a global platform?
Guangzhou is a major manufacturing and trade hub in southern China—it has been reinventing itself for decades. They understand what it means to scale, to adapt, to solve problems at the city level. By hosting the award, they position themselves as a convener, not just a competitor. It's smart governance diplomacy.
Sixteen hundred submissions across six editions—that's a lot. Are these actually being used, or do they just sit in a database somewhere?
That's the real question, isn't it. The award's value depends on whether cities actually learn from each other. UCLG and Metropolis are both networks designed to facilitate that kind of knowledge transfer, so presumably the submissions feed into their member communications. But you're right to be skeptical. A platform is only as useful as the people using it.
What kinds of problems are cities actually submitting solutions for?
The source mentions climate adaptation, social equity, inclusive development. So the full range—housing, water, emissions, economic opportunity. The award seems designed to capture whatever cities are actually working on, not to impose a narrow agenda.
Why announce this in Seoul, not in Guangzhou?
Because Metropolis was having its board meeting there, and it's the 40th anniversary. You announce at the biggest gathering of your partners. It's where the audience is.
If I'm a city official in, say, Kenya or Peru, why would I bother submitting?
Because you get international recognition, visibility among peer cities, and access to a network of officials facing the same problems you are. You also get to learn from what others have done. It's not just about winning—it's about joining a conversation.