Judging Process

Evaluation based on evidence, expertise, and measurable impact.

The Awards operate on a two-year cycle, allowing sufficient time for thorough evaluation, international engagement, and global recognition of shortlisted cities.

Award entries are assessed in two stages. First, a multidisciplinary, international Technical Panel with an advanced knowledge of Green City principles scores each entry against the judging criteria and select three Finalists per category. Next, a Jury drawn from internationally recognised city, nature, and sustainability focussed organisations assesses the Finalists to select seven Category Winners and the overall Grand Winner.

The Jury

The Awards Jury is tasked with selecting the winners based on each entry’s capacity for influence, replicability, and scope to inspire change. Considering the transformational impact of the initiatives, the Jury assesses each of the Finalist entries to choose the Winners.

Elisabeth Belpaire

President, International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP), Switzerland

Kobie Brand

Deputy Secretary-General, ICLEI, and Regional Director, ICLEI Africa, South Africa

Bill Hardy

Chair of Green City Committee, AIPH, Canada

Jennifer Jenson

Owner, Verdovia, UK

David Maddox

Executive Director, The Nature of Cities, USA

Dr. Bruno Marques

President, International Federation of Landscape Architects, New Zealand

Margaret Otieno

Chair, IUCN CEC, Kenya

Augusto Solano

Past President, ASOCOLFLORES, Colombia

Karen Tambayong

Chairperson, Indonesian Horticultural Professionals Association, Indonesia

Maria A. Villalobos Hernandez

Chairperson, Indonesian Horticultural Professionals Association, Indonesia

Kotchakorn Voraakhom

CEO, Landprocess, and CEO, Porous City Network, Thailand

The Technical Panel

Representing a diversity of disciplines, geographies, and experiences, the 2026 Technical Panel brings together leaders in urban ecology, climate resilience, landscape architecture, community engagement, and sustainable development.

Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar

Founder, Principal Architect & Research Director, GRIT, India

Laura Barron

Associate Director, Resilient Cities Catalyst, United States

Olivia Bina

Senior Researcher, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Robert Brears

Founder, Our Future Water & Green Climate Fund International Sectoral Expert (Water), New Zealand

JD Brown

Program Director, Biophilic Cities, United States

Dr. Carly Cowell

Director of Conservation, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, UK

Sarah Crowe

Town Planner / Lecturer, University of the West of Scotland, United Kingdom

Anton Earle

Global Coordinator: Water Systems, ICLEI Africa, South Africa

Elizaveta Fakirova

Co-Founder of What’s That Green? and PhD Candidate at Technical University of Munich, Germany

Glenn Fenton

Managing Director, Nationwide Trees, Australia

Mayu Ferrufino

Executive Director, Parque Cuscatlán Fundación, El Salvador

Kevin Frediani

Operations Manager, National Trust for Scotland, United Kingdom

Vivian Fu

Senior Manager, Wetlands for Asian Flyways Initiative, WWF, Hong Kong

Naim Keruwala

Regional Director – South and West Asia, C40, India

Brenda Kessler

Program Manager, Children & Nature Network, USA

Gitty Korsuize

Urban Nature Advisor, Netherlands

Leticia Lozano

Director General, MACIA Estudio, Mexico

Liteboho Makhele

Country Coordinator, GIZ Natural Resources Stewardship, South Africa

Melinda Martinus

Lead Researcher, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS), Singapore

Irene Nagudi

Founder & Director, Kichini Gardeners Initiative, Uganda

Amanda O’Rourke

CEO, 8 80 Cities, Canada

John-Rob Pool

Senior Manager, Nature-positive Urban Development & UrbanShift, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, World Resources Institute, United States

Dominic Regester

Program Director, Salzburg Global, Austria

Luis Romahn

CEO, World Urban Parks, Mexico

Loredana Scuto

Programme Officer – Urban, IUCN, Germany

Anushri Tiwari

South Asian Lead at UbHub and Project Research Associate at the Indian Institute of Technology, India

Ton Vergeldt

Senior Project Manager, Arcadis, Netherlands

Marta Weber

Vice-President, World Green Infrastructure Network, Poland

The world's champion for the power of plants greencity@aiph.org