Tirana shortlisted for 2018 Transformative Action Award

Albania’s City of Tirana is among three shortlisted candidates for the 2018 Transformative Action Award, according to a press release from the organizers.

The other two shortlisted candidates for the 2018 Transformative Action Award are the City of Bologna, Italy and the City of Ghent, Belgium. The three cities were shortlisted from “a strong field of 40 applications.”

The award, which is co-organized by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the Basque Country, and the City of Aalborg (Denmark), rewards current or concluded Transformative Actions that address the pathways of the Basque Declaration related to three categories: socio-cultural, socio-economic, and technological transformation.

The City of Tirana won the nomination for increasing urban green space around the city, to counteract urban sprawl; the City of Bologna for entering into collaborative pacts with citizens in order to increase civic engagement and regenerate urban commons; and the City of Ghent for seeking to transform the city’s local food system through participative governance models.

“I was extremely pleased to discover that the 2018 Transformative Action Award attracted so many applicants from across Europe. These participative projects make our local communities and local economies more inclusive, green and sustainable. As a result, they provide better quality of life to our citizens. I hope that these initiatives will serve as examples to be replicated everywhere and unleash a chain reaction of transformational actions in our regions and cities,” said Jury Member and ENVE Commission Chair Cor Lamers.

Congratulating the shortlisted candidates, Hakan Lucius, Jury Member and Head of Civil Society Division, the European Investment Bank (EIB), said: “Representing Europe’s geographic diversity, these three cities managed to address different components of sustainable development, in particular social inclusion, urban development, and food-supply, by meaningfully involving all stakeholders. Their innovative actions take on key challenges for our common future and should be inspirational for all actors committed to sustainability.”