Awards Finalists
Discover the 21 city greening initiatives selected as 2026 Finalists
Championing ambitious nature-orientated approaches to city design and operation.
Twenty-one inspiring city greening initiatives have been selected as Finalists for the AIPH World Green City Awards 2026. Each of these cities demonstrate 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.
Across the 21 Finalists, this is already being put into practice – from transforming streets and restoring degraded land, to expanding urban forests, improving access to green space, and developing new models for food production – demonstrating how planting can deliver measurable environmental, social and economic benefits. In the first of a two-stage judging process, a multidisciplinary Technical Panel reviewed all entries to the Awards and scored them according to six judging criteria. The Finalists comprise the three highest scoring entries in each of the seven Awards categories.
Living Green for Biodiversity & Urban Ecosystem Restoration
Addressing the loss of species, habitats, ecosystem health, and genetic diversity.
Living Green in a city provides habitats to support ecological communities for a diverse range of living organisms. Plants provide the backbone for all nature to thrive. City Biodiversity has an increasingly important role to play in global conservation efforts.
Living Green for Climate Change
Tackling the root causes and effects of climate change in order to build more liveable and resilient cities.
Living Green solutions such as street trees, green roofs and walls, and parks and gardens, all contribute to moderating the impacts of climate change. In solving problems such as the urban heat island effect and poor local air quality, nature-based-solutions deliver quantifiable cash value to city authorities as well as enhancing the quality of life for citizens.
Living Green for Health & Wellbeing
Addressing the medical, behavioural, and social determinants of health for residents.
People are measurably happier when they work and live in green surroundings. This comes from both physical and psychological benefits. Improved health results in lower costs for health-care providers, and benefits the economy through improved productivity and lower absenteeism and staff turnover.
Living Green for Water
Ensuring water resources are safeguarded and wisely used, with clean water available to all while also protecting residents from flooding risks.
Water issues related to drought and flooding are already a significant impact of climate change, with traditional engineering solutions commonly overwhelmed. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems incorporate plants into water management systems, thereby offering considerable advantages over engineering solutions, and, at the same time, providing additional benefits of amenity and recreation, and space for wildlife.
Living Green for Urban Agriculture & Food Systems
Creating strategies and practices that build the resilience of city food supplies to increase employment and nutritional outcomes, reduce poverty and address urban environmental degradation.
Urban agriculture offers numerous benefits to cities, providing solutions to problems associated with transportation, health, land use, waste management, education, and community cohesion. Permanent or temporary use of private and public land can increase capacity for local food production. Community gardening promotes self-sufficiency and reduces food miles.
Living Green for Social Cohesion & Inclusive Communities
Bringing urban populations together and fostering belonging, equity, trust and inter-generational as well as cross-cultural relationships to prevent exclusion, marginalisation, and violence.
Greener environments encourage people to spend more time in outdoor spaces, improving social interaction and community cohesion which in turn contributes to reduced crime. Community cohesion is especially important in multi-cultural communities and also enables inter-generational social relationships.