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Congratulations to all the Winners!
During the 78th AIPH Annual Congress in Bari, Italy, the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) announced the winning urban greening initiatives for the 2026 edition of the AIPH World Green City Awards. From the 21 Finalists, eight cities were named Category Winners for demonstrating remarkable innovation, achievement, and commitment to the globally recognised imperative to embrace nature-orientated solutions to help address the major challenges facing cities.
Paris, France, received the highest accolade - the title of 'Grand Winner' - for its ambitious approach to embedding biodiversity across one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
Celebrating real projects with measurable impact.
Cities across the world face increasing pressures: rising temperatures, extreme weather events, population growth, declining biodiversity, and growing demands on public health systems. Plants are not decorative additions to urban life. They are living infrastructure.
Organised by AIPH, and held every two years since 2022, the AIPH World Green City Awards recognise cities that place plants and horticulture at the heart of urban development. The Awards celebrate measurable outcomes in resilience, health, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and liveability - demonstrating how plant-led approaches deliver practical solutions to shared urban challenges. Previous Grand Winners were Hyderabad (India) 2022 and Chengdu (China) 2024.
What to Expect
A global stage for urban greening Discover inspiring city greening initiatives from across the world, each presenting real, evidence-led solutions grounded in horticulture.
Celebrating excellence The Awards recognise innovation, long-term vision, and measurable impact, showcasing projects that are already influencing policy and practice worldwide.
Connection and collaboration Meet peers, partners, and organisations working across the horticulture and urban greening landscape - a meeting point for ideas, partnerships, and progress.
Why it matters
The AIPH World Green City Awards highlight a clear message: plants are not an added feature - they are essential infrastructure.
By recognising cities that lead in this space, the Awards help:
- Share proven approaches that can be adapted globally
- Build confidence in Nature-based Solutions
- Strengthen collaboration across sectors
- Inspire the next generation of urban greening projects
“The city’s benefited greatly from being a recipient of the award. It’s an acknowledgement of all the work that the city’s done. It’s helped raise our profile and supported when we applied for grant funding. We’ve gained an enormous amount through the recognition.”
Danielle Bowler, Environmental Development Coordinator, City of Joondalup, Australia – 2024 Winner in the ‘Living Green for Water’ category and AIPH Youth Award
The City of Joondalup receiving its award.
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Finalists
Twenty-one inspiring city greening initiatives have been selected as Finalists. Each city demonstrates the transformative power of plants in solving some of the most pressing urban challenges – from extreme heat and flooding to food security, biodiversity loss and public health.
