“In this century, metropolitan areas, rather than nation states, will shape the world’s social, cultural, technological and economic agendas,” says international thinktank City Mayor Foundation in its manifesto. To celebrate cities and their leaders, the foundation established the World Mayor Prize in 2004. It is now awarded biennially to the year’s most outstanding city leader.
Previous winners are inspirations for the world’s city leaders. Tirana’s Edi Rama (an exhibiting artist) was responsible for repainting the Albanian city’s communist-era grey buildings vibrant pink, orange and green. Athens’ Dora Baokyannis led the city through the 2004 Olympic games and Hong-Kong-born Melbourne mayor John So was awarded for his popularity and his role as “an immigrant success story”. In 2012 Iñaki Azkuna was awarded for his key role transforming Bilbao from “a declining industrial city ... to an international centre for tourism and the arts”.
Winners must have “vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit”, says the thinktank. Honesty is a central pillar of requirements - as is management abilities, protecting the environment and promoting social cohesion. Those who want to be considered for the prize have to sign up to a code of ethics.
Initial nominations come from the public - 463,000 people voted for the 2012 prize. Then a longlist is drawn up, which is whittled down to a shortlist. This year’s shortlist shines light on 26 mayors: four each from North America and Latin America, nine from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa and one from Australia.
The name of the World Mayor 2014, along with two runner-ups will be announced on 3 February 2015.
The shortlist
North America
Naheed Nenshi, Calgary, Canada
Annise Parker, Houston, USA
Mick Cornett, Oklahoma City, USA
Kevin Johnson, Sacramento, USA
Latin America
Marcio Lacerda, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Álvaro Arzú, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Carlos Eduardo Correa, Monteria, Colombia
Carlos Ocariz, Sucre, Venezuela
Europe
Daniel Termont, Ghent, Belgium
Alain Juppé, Bordeaux, France
Albrecht Schröter, Jena, Germany
Yiannis Boutaris, Thessaloniki, Greece
Giusy Nicolini, Lampedusa, Italy
Nils Usakovs, Riga, Latvia
José Ramón García, Ribera de Arriba, Spain
George Ferguson, Bristol, UK
Joe Anderson, Liverpool, UK
Asia
Tri Rismaharini (Risma), Surabaya, Indonesia
Yona Yahav, Haifa, Israel
Jed Patrick Mabilog, Iloilo City, Philippines
Hani Mohammad Aburas, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Park Won-soon, Seoul, South Korea
Aziz Kocaoglu, Izmir, Turkey
Australia
Clover Moore, Sydney, Australia
Africa
Jacqueline Moustache, Victoria, Seychelles
Thabo Manyoni, Mangaung, South Africa
Sign up for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic
