Kazan was awarded the Li Kuan Yew Prize at the World Summit of Cities in Singapore

Kazan is the first Russian city to be awarded a prestigious nomination along with Hamburg, Tokyo, and Surabaya.

(KZN.RU, July 10). Kazan was awarded a special nomination in the framework of the World City Prize of Lee Kuan Yew, a prestigious world award in the field of urban development. By decision of the Council of the award, the capital of Tatarstan was chosen for special mention. The award ceremony took place in Singapore at the 6th World Summit of Cities.

“This is the victory of the whole city and all its residents. It is an important result of our joint work. We cannot develop a big city, living only with the current tasks, it is always necessary to find the strength and energy to confidently look into the future, dream and work hard. This victory automatically raises the level of demands for us and opens a second wind for achieving the tasks that life and citizens set before us”, said Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan.

This award means recognition of Kazan by the world urban community, as experts fr om different countries give an assessment. In particular, the jury is represented by specialists from Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, New Zealand, and China.

Over the past six years, the Lee Kuan Yew Prize has received such cities as New York (the USA, 2012), Suzhou (China, 2014), and Medellin (Colombia, 2016). In 2018, the main prize was awarded to Seoul (South Korea). However, the Council of the Award decided to recognize Kazan together with Hamburg (Germany), Tokyo (Japan), and Surabaya (Indonesia) worthy of a special nomination.

The jury noted in the final assessment that Kazan is a city of all kinds of cultures, respecting its ethnic and religious diversity. In the future, it can become a strong and special city, having a good urban development plan and rich heritage and culture.

The jury explained that thanks to its initiatives, Kazan demonstrated impressive successes in the quality of life. Over the past 10 years, the life expectancy of residents of the capital of Tatarstan has increased by 9 years, the birth rate has doubled, the number of abortions has decreased by 40%, and the crime rate has decreased in 2 times.

“Kazan has been appreciated thanks to its spectacular transformation from a pale city wh ere flourishing youth crime and the public health system in terrible condition into a healthy city that is now known for its sports infrastructure, social, and religious harmony. The city recognized that its inhabitants are the most valuable asset, and began to invest strategically in sports, medicine, and family life, in order to improve the overall quality of life”, said the experts.

The World Summit of Cities is being held for the sixth time. This year, it gathered 116 heads of delegations from all over the world, leading experts in the field of economics and innovation, universities, as well as UN representatives.

The World Summit of Cities is the largest world platform for discussing the issues of integrated urban development. At the meeting, the heads of cities and world experts in urban planning discuss the integrated development of urban areas through the introduction of new technologies and best practices in urban management. Also, such important topics as an attraction of financial resources, expansion of business participation in infrastructure projects and development of public-private partnership and many others are considered at the summit. But the most important part of the Summit is traditionally the awarding of the international Lee Kuan Yu Prize.

About the Prize

The international Lee Kuan Yew Prize was established in 2010 by the Strategic Planning Agency of Singapore and the Center for Creating Comfortable Living Conditions for Singapore. Every two years, an international award is given to cities and their leaders for success in managing and introducing innovations in order to improve the urban economy. The professional jury from around the world assesses the declared cities in terms of architectural features, economic efficiency, legislative base, government policy. Experts choose a laureate, as well as cities for special mention.

The winner of the competition is honored at the awards ceremony during the World Summit of Cities in Singapore.

The capital of Tatarstan took part in the international competition twice. In 2015, Kazan reached the final stage, but the victory was won by the Colombian Medellin.

In 2017, Kazan applied with projects “Healthy Kazan”, “Environmental Development”, and “Embracing Diversity”.