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World Mayor 2008
The final shortlist
London/Freiburg, 4 July 2008: Public voting for World Mayor 2008 has now ended. Between January of this year and the end of June more than 200,000 people from around the world cast their votes for and commented on mayors who they thought worthy of the 2008 Award. While all of this year’s 50 long-listed mayors have made significant contributions to the well-being of their communities, eleven of them stand out in terms of number of votes and persuasiveness of supporting statements received. They are (listed in alphabetical order of their cities):

Helen Zille, Mayor of Cape Town, South Africa
Leopoldo Eduardo López, Mayor of Chacao, Venezuela
Göran Johansson, Mayor of Gothenburg, Sweden
Jaime Nebot, Mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador
Marides Fernando, Mayor of Marikina City, Philippines
Ulrich Maly, Mayor of Nürnberg, Germany
Phil Gordon, Mayor of Phoenix, USA
José Fogaça, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Mayor of Tehran, Iran
Salvador Gandara, Mayor of Villa Nueva, Guatemala
Elmar Ledergerber, Mayor of Zurich, Switzerland

Between now and the end of September, the editors of City Mayors, the organisers of the World Mayor project, will consult and take advise on who of the eleven mayors from the final shortlist should receive the 2008 World Mayor Award. The winner of the 2008 World Mayor Award will be announced on 14 October 2008. More

Toronto mayor to lead cities’
fight against climate change
Toronto, 7 June 2008: Toronto Mayor David Miller has replaced London’s former mayor Ken Livingstone as head of the C40 group, an international forum where the mayors of some of the world’s most important cities share initiatives on environmental policies and co-ordinate strategies. The group was formed in 2005 by Ken Livingstone. Miller told reporters that he was honoured to have been chosen for this important role. "Climate change is the issue of our time, perhaps of all time," he said.

Mayor Miller also emphasised that cities were doing more to fight global warming than any other level of government. He also urged his fellow mayors to play a leading role at the coming international climate change talks in Copenhagen.

"Our big goal is for cities to have a big voice in the Copenhagen discussions about the strategies for the world," he said. "Cities know what to do. We act, our businesses act, our residents act. And over the next year and a half one of our goals will be make sure the voice of cities is heard very clearly at those decisions,” Mayor Miller explained.

The C40 group is made up of the following cities: Addis Ababa, Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Chicago, Delhi, Dhaka, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Toronto, Tokyo, and Warsaw.

IOC names bidding cities
for 2016 Summer Olympics
Athens, 5 June 2008: At a meeting in Athens, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has selected the four cities, which will officially bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. They are: Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Madrid (Spain) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Three cities were eliminated from the race: Prague (Czech Republic), Doha (Qatar) and Baku (Azerbaijan). The IOC will select the winner by secret ballot on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen.

The IOC evaluation report assessing the technical merits of each bid ranked Tokyo with the top overall marks, followed closely by Madrid. Chicago and Doha were tied for third, with Rio fourth. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, currently on a visit to Athens, told reporters that the Olympic primaries were over now with the general election campaign to commence.

Officials from Chicago, the city which has been regarded as the favourite, said that the rankings, based on the nuts-and-bolts portion of each city’s bid, does not necessarily indicate that the local team is in third place. “Rather, making the cut is a sort of seal of approval that all of the finalists are eligible bachelors.”

Tokyo has put forward plans to construct a stadium on the city's waterfront costing about 294.3 billion yen (US$2.8 billion). The Japanese capital held the Olympics in 1964. Rio de Janeiro's chances of bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time may have been boosted by its successful staging of the 2007 Pan American Games. Rio will also host a number of games during the 2014 Football World Cup. Madrid lost out three years ago to London and may struggle to convince the IOC who does not favour consecutive Summer Games on the same continent.

City mayors vote for
sustainable tourism
Zhengzhou, 14 April 2008: More than 200 mayors representing tourism cities from 35 countries and areas worldwide signed and published a manifesto to encourage the sustainable development of tourism and cities around the world. It also emphasized the need to support those areas with good tourism resources under the precondition of sustainable development, to expedite the process of urbanization and to shape a batch of tourism cities and towns with special features through developing the tourism sector.

The manifesto indicates that to maintain sustainable development was an internal requirement of tourism industry development and should be taken as the basic precondition of a tourism city's development; and it must develop the city into an important base of new eco-civilization and must make travel an important channel to spread the concept of saving resources and protecting the environment.

The mayors, who met at the 2008 Forum for Mayors of World Tourism Cities held in Zhengzhou, also stressed the need: for cooperation among tourism cities worldwide, to share good experiences of excellent promotion of both tourism and cities, and to expand tourism cooperation fields to take advantage of synergy.

European cities failed
to switch off their lights
London, 31 March 2008: While many cities in America and Asia observed Earth Hour by switching off their lights for one hour on Saturday, 29 March, the response to the energy-saving WWF initiative was muted in much of Europe. Landmark buildings in Germany, Spain and France continued to be lit up. Only in Athens, Budapest, London and Dublin did the authorities respond by turning off the floodlights at buildings such as London City Hall, Athens City Hall, the Hungarian Parliament and Canterbury Cathedral.

Elsewhere in the world, city authorities embraced the WWF call for a gesture to reduce energy waste with greater enthusiasm. In Chicago, lights on more than 200 city centre buildings were dimmed on Saturday night, while in Sydney the illumination of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge were switched off.

The city authorities of  Phoenix ordered that lights in all city-owned buildings were turned off for one hour. Darkened restaurants glowed with candlelight in San Francisco while the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks extinguished lights for an hour.

Google lent its support to Earth Hour by blackening its normally white home page and challenging visitors: "We've turned the lights out. Now it's your turn."

Melbourne offers best
all-round environment
Melbourne, 1 March 2008: Melbourne offers the best environmental qualities of all major cities in Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. At the bottom of the table of 21 cities are New Delhi and Mumbai. Only months before this year’s Summer Olympics, host Beijing occupies a lowly 15th place. Johannesburg and Singapore are placed second and third respectively.

The survey, commissioned by MasterCard, used data from the World Health Organisation, other UN agencies and national agencies such as the US geological survey as well as Mercer, the consultancy. Cities are ranked highest to lowest in terms of environmental quality as measured by water potability and availability, sewage system, waste removal, air quality, infectious diseases, potential climate change impact and natural disasters.

The cities were ranked as follows:
Melbourne; 2) Johannesburg; 3) Singapore; 4) Dubai; 5) Sydney; 6) Tel Aviv; 7) Tokyo; 8) Seoul; 9) Kuala Lumpur; 10) Riyadh; 11) Hong Kong; 12) Chengdu; 13) Shanghai; 14) Bangkok; 15) Beijing; 16 ) Cairo; 17) Shenzhen; 18) Beirut; 19) Jakarta; 20) New Delhi; 21) Mumbai.

Commenting on the report, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong,its author and economic adviser to MasterCard said the findings were particularly alarming for India. “India really has to move fast to prevent slipping down any further," he warned. Comparing India with China, Mr Yuwa explained that over the past five years China had invested about 15 times more than India in transport, sewerage and other infrastructure that contribute to improving living standards in urban centres. “Additionally, India's democratic system and policymaking process make it harder to implement reform, while China can clearly mobilize,” he added.

The survey’s methodology also takes into account natural phenomena such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Johannesburg's high ranking in part reflects its favourable location in terms of limited vulnerability to natural disaster. In contrast, Tokyo was ranked lower because of the risk of earthquake, typhoon and volcanic eruption. Sydney also ranked down the list because of the risk of rising sea levels, water scarcity and fires.

Smaller cities will grow
most in coming decades
New York, 27 February 2008: By the end of 2008, for the first time in history, half of the world's population will live in urban centers, according to a revised United Nations population study. The survey also predicts the world's urban population will almost double to 6.4 billion people by the year 2050. Most of the growth will be in cities with fewer than half a million people and not in mega cities like Tokyo, New York and Mexico City.

The report's findings imply that urban areas must be prepared to absorb enormous numbers of people over the next four decades. UN population officials say the growth of cities will not only be caused by populations migrating from rural areas, but also by the transformation of many rural areas into urban centers.

Hania Zlotnik, the head of the UN Population Division, says most of the growth will be in small cities, not the mega cities like Tokyo, New York and Mexico City. "By small cites, we mean cities with less than half a million people over time. I have to say for the cities that have more than half a million people, we know them by name and address," Zlotnik said. "But for the cities that have less than half a million people we really do not know where they are because they number in the tens of thousands. It is important to understand what you are going to have is birth of new cities. "

Most of the population growth is expected in less developed regions, especially Asia. Due largely to the rapid urbanization of China, Zlotnik says Asia is expected to become 50 per cent urban within the next 15 years. Africa's urban population is expected to triple over the next three decades.

Zlotnik says urban centers are viewed as economically dynamic, attracting investment and creating employment. Ironically, improvements in rural areas can lead to population declines.

"Usually rural development implies having agricultural production that is more productive. To do that, you have to have less people producing because the productivity is measured on the basis of how much labor you put in. So you need to become more agribusiness and agribusiness uses less people. So they need to find employment for the excess labor that will be left when that happens," said Zlotnik.

The report represents the first time the United Nation has made urban projections as far ahead as the year 2050. The report is based on continued reductions in birth rates. If fertility rates remained at the current rate, the world population would reach eight billion by 2050. (Report by Barbara Schoetzau, VoA)

Cities from across the world
will be turning off their lights
Washington, 20 February 2008: Some 24 cities from across Europe, North America, Asia and Asia Pacific, including Chicago, Copenhagen, Manila, Melbourne, Portland, Sydney, Tel Aviv and Toronto will be switching off their lights on 29 March 2008, to show their commitment to combating climate change. The event, Earth Hour, is co-ordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The eight latest cities to join Earth Hour are Atlanta, San Francisco and Phoenix in the US; Thailand's capital Bangkok; Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal in Canada and Dublin in Ireland.

WWF Director General James Leape told City Mayors that during Earth Hour, governments, businesses, community leaders and individuals would be turning out their lights and switching on their support for actions that could help make a difference in the most significant challenge facing the world today.

WWF’s first Earth Hour took place in Sydney, Australia in March 2007 with more than 2.2 million people participating in an effort that darkened such iconic structures as the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and resulted in a 10 per cent drop in energy usage, double what had been predicted.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley commented: “An important part of Chicago’s efforts to be the most environmentally-friendly city in the world is to understand the effects of climate change on our city. Programs like Earth Hour 2008 remind us that we all share the responsibility for global warming, and we all can be part of the solution.”

Cities participating in Earth Hour include: * Aalborg (Denmark) Aarhus, (Denmark), Brisbane (Australia), Canberra, (Australia), Chicago (USA), Copenhagen (Denmark), Manila (Philippines), Melbourne (Australia), Odense (Denmark), Portland (USA), Suva (Fiji), Sydney (Australia), Tel Aviv (Israel), Toronto (Canada)

Tehran mayor attends Davos
to promote foreign investment
Davos, 27 January 2008: Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said at the Davos World Economic Forum that the West should not deprive itself of investment opportunities in Iran because of political differences over the nuclear issue. He said his city wants to attract some US$4 billion in foreign investment to fund construction projects.

In a press interview, the mayor said he was talking to potential investors also attending the Davos Forum. “The Iranian capital is looking for investors to build and run hotels, recreational centres and shopping malls,” he explained. The mayor stressed that private sector involvement would improve the services of the municipality.

Mayor Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, who has been short-listed for this year’s World Mayor Award, declined to confirm whether he would contest the 2009 presidential election. The mayor also took part in a panel discussion about urbanisation, headed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

China and Germany launch
city-to-city rail freight service
Beijing, 9 January 2008: The railways of Germany and China are planning to launch direct freight rail links between the two countries major cities. The first such link will be between Beijing and Hamburg. On 8 January, the first train left the Chinese capital for the German port city. Loaded with containers, the train will travel Beijing through the Mongolian Republic, along the Trans-Siberian Railroad, through Belarus and Poland and then to Hamburg.

On arriving at its destination in just under 20 days, the train will have traveled more than 10,000 kilometers. Germany’s railway (Deutsche Bahn), cooperates with five other rail companies on this project: the Russian and Chinese Railways as well as the national railroads of Mongolia, Poland and Belarus. The six rail companies intend to develop competitive offerings to gain market shares from ocean- and airfreight. The booming economies in Asia and the upswing in Russia have lent further importance to the Asian-European transport corridor. 

A Deutsche Bahn spokesman told City Mayors’ China correspondent that the company was aiming to achieve a journey time of 15 to 18 days in the future. “That's twice as fast as a seagoing vessel from Germany to China and Asia. At the same time, we're considerably cheaper than air freight for many types of cargo,” he added. At a time when the environmental impact of large container ships come increasingly under scrutiny, long-distance rail transport is seen as a more ecological alternative.

UN agency calls for
more urban farming
Geneva, 22 December 2007: As a precaution against extreme weather conditions, Asian countries should invest in urban and indoor farming, says the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The organisation’s Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said Asia needed secure food supplies for its rising population, and indoor and urban agriculture was receiving special attention to make most efficient use of space using controlled environments.

WMO research shows that among the ten countries most affected by extreme weather in 2006, seven were from Asia: Afghanistan, China, India, Indonesia, North Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. These countries suffered from a range of bad weather conditions including droughts, floods and hurricanes.

WMO, a UN agency, also called for improved seasonal prediction, early warning systems, and monitoring for regional droughts, to help farmers decide which crops to grow.

NYC mayor to speak at UN
climate change conference
Beijing, 9 December 2007: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has arrived in Beijing, on the first stop of a trip starting a week-long trip taking him to Shanghai and Bali, where he will attend the UN climate change conference. Concerning his trip to China, Mayor Bloomberg told reporters: "We have an enormous Chinese population here. We're a major trading partner - not just the country, but New York City, and there are a number of issues that we have."

On Monday, 10 December, the mayor is scheduled to speak at a conference in Beijing, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the US Commerce and State Departments, on innovative societies. The following day, Bloomberg is expected to speak on economic competitiveness at an undetermined location, with an event to follow on Wednesday at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

On 13 December, Bloomberg will arrive in Bali where he said he would bring issues that affect cities to the world stage. "What I want to talk about is urging the Bali conference to include cities in the discussion, because in the end, if you think about it, people in big cities around the world are the ones that suffer the most from pollution, just because of the concentration," Bloomberg said. (Report by China View)

Most megacities should prepare for
flooding caused by rising sea levels
New York, 21 October 20007: Most of the world’s mega-cities should start planning for flooding caused by rising sea levels, says the Worldwatch Institute citing studies by the UN and other environmental organisations. Among the cities on the danger list are Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles.

The Institute claims that by 2015, 21 of the world’s 33 megacities - those with more than eight million people – will be facing flooding due to rising sea levels and other disasters, such as highly destructive storms, caused by climate change. They include Dhaka, Bangladesh; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Shanghai and Tianjin in China; Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt; Mumbai and Calcutta in India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Tokyo and Osaka-Kobe in Japan; Lagos, Nigeria; Karachi, Pakistan; Bangkok, Thailand, and New York and Los Angeles in the United States

Environmental experts say that some 640 million people, or one-tenth of the world population, live in low-lying areas at risk from rising sea levels. Countries with most to fear include China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Egypt, the USA, Thailand and the Philippines. Some experts question the wisdom of government-sponsored rapid growth of cities such as Shanghai, Mumbai or Calcutta. “Governments should direct urban development away from the most threatened cites,” they advise.

Urban Crime affects half of
residents in poor countries
Nairobi, 1 October 2007: Crime was increasing in the world's cities and now affected more than half of urban residents in developing countries, the UN agency for human settlements said in a report. Global crime rates increased by some 30 per cent between 1980 and 2000, the equivalent of more than 3,000 extra crimes per 100,000 people.  

In the last five years, 60 per cent of city residents in developing countries have fallen victim to crime, it said, attributing the trend mainly to rapid and chaotic urbanisation. "Urban violence and crime are increasing worldwide, giving rise to widespread fear and driving away investment in many cities," said UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.  

This is especially true in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Latin America, where 80 per cent of the population is urban, the rapidly expanding cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Caracas account for more than half of violent crimes in the respective countries.

The UN report ‘Enhancing urban safety’ noted, however, that there was a decline in urban violence in North America and Western Europe. Still, more than half of urban residents in both rich and poor countries worry about crime “all the time” or “very often”.

Hiroshima mayor urges the US
to rethink its nuclear policies
Hiroshima, 6 August 2007: Japan marked on Monday, 6 August, 62 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II with a commemoration ceremony attended by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as other high-ranked officials. Approximately 140,000 people died after the US B-29 Enola Gay bomber dropped the first atomic bomb ever used against humans in 1945.

“To ensure that no one else ever suffers as we did, the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) have continuously spoken of experiences they would rather forget, and we must never forget their accomplishment in preventing a third use of nuclear weapons,” Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said during the ceremony.

He referred to the frequent interviews the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings give in order to open the world’s eye towards their suffering and the tremendous destruction force unleashed by A-bombs. “The Japanese government should comply with the nation's pacifist constitution as it is and clearly say no to wrong and outdated policies of the United States,” Akiba added.

“Japan has been taking the path toward global peace for 62 years since World War II. The tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated in any place on earth. We will take an initiative in the international community and devote ourselves wholeheartedly toward the abolition of nuclear weapons and realization of peace,” Premier Abe said.

The nuclear attacks on Japan sparked numerous controversies throughout time, a recent episode consuming last month when defence minister Fumio Kyuma presented his resignation following a statement made on June 30 in which he said the atomic bombings “could not be helped” in order to end the conflict.

Authorities acknowledge that about 252,000 people survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki (9 August 1945) attacks, but many of them were diagnosed with terrible disease such as cancer due to radiation. (Report by Diane Smith, eFlux Media)

Russian resort to stage
2014 Winter Olympics
Guatemala City, 5 July 2007: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has selected the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Nearly 100 delegates cast ballots to chose among the three finalists: the Russian city of Sochi, Pyeongchang in South Korea, and the Austrian town of Salzburg.

After several rounds of balloting at the meeting in Guatemala City,Guatemala, IOC president Jacques Rogge read the name of the winning city.

"The International Olympic Committee has the honour of announcing that the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in 2014 are awarded to the city of Sochi," said Jacques Rogge.

Earlier, Russia's President Vladimir Putin spoke to Olympic delegates in the Central American capital to make the case for the Black Sea resort town, but returned to Moscow before the results were announced. He said that Sochi has ideal weather conditions for the winter games, and said he has gone skiing several times in the resort town. Putin said Russia plans to spend about $12 billion to make sure the 2014 games are a safe, enjoyable and memorable experience.

The leaders of South Korea and Austria also travelled to Guatemala City to lobby for their cities. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said holding the games in Pyeongchang, near the border with North Korea, would promote peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. Austrian delegates noted that the Alpine nation has hosted two Winter Olympics before, and stressed that many of the facilities needed for the games are already in place.

Both Salzburg and Pyeongchang competed and lost in the election to host the 2010 winter games. The next Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, Canada, in 2010. (Report by Brian Wagner, VoA News)

London 2012 Olympics logo
compared to broken swastika
London, 5 June 2007: The unveiling of the official logo of the London 2012 Olympics by the games' organisers has met with a mixed and mostly critical reaction. Revealed for the first time at a ceremony in London, the organisers claim the design, which cost £400,000, will inspire Londoners and promote diversity. The jagged emblem, based on the numerics of 2012, comes in shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the games. The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo. For the first time in the Olympics' history, the same logo will be used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair, the former athlete and Conservative politician Sebastian Coe, said: "It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world." However, the editors of the BBC's sports website claimed that the majority of reader comments had been hugely negative about the logo, which was nine months in development under lock and key at agency Wolff Ollins. Typical comments ranged from "an infants school could have done something far better", to it resembling "a broken swastika."

Mayors of the world’s largest cities
in NYC to combat global warming
New York City, 14 May 2007: Leaders of the world's largest cities, together with CEOs of international corporations, convene in New York City from 14 to 17 May 2007, to pursue joint efforts to combat global warming while insuring economic benefits for cities. The occasion is the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, a gathering of Mayors dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and to developing infrastructure that encourages more efficient use of energy.

Highlights will include a keynote address by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as presentations by Former President Clinton and other internationally known figures, including Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London; Shintaro Ishihara, Governor of Tokyo; Richard Daley, Mayor of Chicago; David Miller, Mayor of Toronto; Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul and Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, Mayor of Mexico City.

Cities are responsible for three-quarters of the world’s energy consumption and, therefore, must play a critical role in the reduction of carbon emissions and the reversal of dangerous climate change. The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is working with members of the C40 to develop and implement a range of programs that will quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CCI is providing technical experts to individual cities, pooling the buying power of these cities to lower prices on energy saving products, creating a common emissions measurement tool and sharing best practices. CCI has partnered with a range of the world’s leading organizations and institutions to achieve these objectives. The C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative will announce important global initiatives during the summit.

Thirty-two mayors plan to personally participate in the summit, and delegations from a total of 46 cities from six continents are scheduled to attend. This includes the world's largest cities, as well as some smaller cities that are at the forefront of innovative efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Participating cities include Addis Ababa, Austin, Bangkok, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bogotá, Cairo, Chicago, Copenhagen, Curitiba, Delhi, Dhaka, Houston, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lagos, Lima, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Rotterdam, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Warsaw.