TEHRAN – The 4th Tehran Golden Adobe Global Award ceremony wrapped up in Tehran on Saturday by announcing winners from among 512 urban management projects both from Iran and 27 other countries.

Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi announced the winners and awarded the top projects.

The event was held on the occasion of the World Cities Day which is annually observed on October 31.

For the first time, the number of projects has increased by 100 percent this year, as 197 projects from the country and 322 projects from 27 countries worldwide were submitted, IRNA quoted Gholam Hossein Mohammadi, the director for international affairs at Tehran Municipality, as saying.

In total, 21 projects were chosen as the top projects and 21 others were also recognized to be honored, he highlighted.

He went on to say that the winners have been chosen in seven different categories of urban management and development.

Reza Karami Mohammadi, head of Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization, ranked the first in category of Resiliency, Livability and Sustainable Urban Development, introducing an earthquake alert system.

The award of Public Participation and Urban Social-Cultural Development category went to Nicaraguan Ambassador to Iran, Mario Barquero, for a project called Nicaraguan Women Cook with the Sun and Grow Organic Vegetables.

In Architecture, Urbanism, Cultural Heritage and Urban Regeneration category, Nasrollah Abadian, Tehran’s District 11 mayor, won the award for museums of war and cigarettes project and retrofitting 10 historical houses in the area.

The founder of MyTehran online system Mohammad Farjud won the award in Smart and Creative Human – Oriented Cities category.

Yusef Hojjat, the founder of Bi-dood bike-sharing system in Tehran, also won the first prize in the Development of Infrastructures, Public Transportation and Urban Services category.

Adobe is the smallest unit in constructing a building in ancient Iranian architecture which dates back to some 7,000 years ago.

The Tehran Golden Adobe Global Award aims to recognize the importance of local government and urban management in promoting the socio-economic environments, the sustainability of cities and regions, and improving the livability of the citizens.

The third edition of the Award was held in 2016, after three years the fourth edition of the event was held focusing on "smart city" and "urban resilience".
This year's award discussed issues of sustainable urban development, citizens’ participation, cultural and social development of the city, architecture, urban planning, urban cultural heritage and regeneration, smart and creative human-centered city, resource allocation, investment, entrepreneurship, employment and the city's economy, infrastructure development, public transport and utilities.

Urban infrastructure’s influence on the emissions curve

UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a message to commemorate World Cities Day 2019 said that “The choices that will be made on urban infrastructure in the coming decades – on urban planning, energy efficiency, power generation, and transport – will have a decisive influence on the emissions curve. Indeed, cities are where the climate battle will largely be won or lost.”

Over half the world’s population now lives in cities and this is projected to increase to over two-thirds by 2050. 

Cities consume more than two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

While being the main cause of climate change, cities have great potential to provide solutions. Compact, walkable or cycling cities with good public transport can greatly reduce our carbon footprint, while greater energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources can substantially decrease the amount of carbon dioxide produced by homes and offices.

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