Beijing, China—The Paulson Institute, in cooperation with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), today launched the Prize for Cities of the Future in 2014. The Prize is awarded annually to a municipal-level sustainability project in China that offers a creative, effective and scalable solution to promoting environmentally sound development. The competition is designed to promote these efforts to a wider audience and recognize the achievements of outstanding Chinese municipalities selected by a jury of experts both from U.S and China.
Paulson Institute Chairman Henry M. Paulson, Jr. celebrated the occasion saying, “China’s recent release of the Urbanization Plan for 2014-2020 will require innovative, sustainable solutions to the challenges of moving 100 million people to cities over the next 6 years. To help advance this bold effort, we seek to identify and promote successful projects that take a cutting-edge approach to major urbanization challenges and can be replicated by other municipalities. We are honored to launch this prize in partnership with CCIEE at this important moment in China’s growth.”
Mr. Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), said that China is now at the key phase of urbanization and faced with not only a host of unprecedented opportunities but also a slew of challenges. CCIEE stands ready to help promote the in-depth cooperation between the Paulson Institute and Chinese cities to explore right approaches and accrue useful experience for the development of China’s new urbanization.
At today’s opening ceremony, Paulson Institute Vice Chairman Deborah Lehr, CCIEE Secretary General Zhang Dawei and China Construction Engineering Design Group Executive General Manager and Director Zhou Wenlian outlined the details of this year’s award process. Projects can be nominated by submitting a form by May 16, 2014, located on the Paulson Institute website at: www.paulsoninstitute.org.
As part of the evaluation process, the jury will visit finalist projects in September 2014 to evaluate their approach to a local urbanization challenge and meet with project leaders. The winning project will be notified by October 15. Paulson Institute Chairman Henry Paulson and CCIEE Chairman Zeng Peiyan will present the award to the winner at an award ceremony in Beijing in November 2014.
This year’s jury committee is composed of the following business leaders and academics:
- Mr. Richard Daley, Chairman of the Jury Committee and former Mayor of Chicago;
- Ms. Carolina Barco, Senior Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank;
- Mr. Chen Huai, Department Head of the Urban & Rural Construction Economy Department at the China Academy of Social Sciences Graduate School and former Director of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Policy Research Center;
- Mr. Hal Harvey, CEO, American Energy Innovation;
- Mr. Huang Nubo, Chairman, Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group;
- Mr. Zhou Wenlian, Executive General Manager and Director, China Construction Engineering Design Group;
- Mr. Zhuang Weimin, Dean of the Architecture School at Tsinghua University.
The 2013 Prize for Cities of the Future was awarded to a Nanhu Country Village project, which was selected for demonstrating a creative, new approach to solving its urban challenges and showing demonstrable progress that can be scaled in other areas of China. The project addresses key environmental challenges of urbanization affecting air, land and water, through innovative solutions to water conservation, energy efficiency and transportation technologies. More information about the 2013 winner can be found here.
About CCIEE: Founded by Zeng Peiyan, former Vice Premier of the State Council, China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) promotes international economic research and exchange and provides consulting services.