Kirklees a winner in Bloomberg Philanthropies 2014 Mayors Challenge
Howard Lake | 23 September 2014 | News
Kirklees in Yorkshire is one of five European towns which have won the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2014 Mayors Challenge. Together they have won €9 million.
It joins Barcelona, Athens, Stockholm and Warsaw as winners of the competition which encourages cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life, and that have the potential to spread to other cities.
More than 150 cities from 28 countries entered the 2014 Mayors Challenge. The winning cities were selected based on their idea’s vision and creativity, potential for impact, transferability, and viability of implementation.
Kirklees Shares
http://instagram.com/p/tF1_y6v57_/
Kirklees won for its idea of embracing the sharing economy to make use of untapped local resources so it can do more with less, in the face of budget cuts from national government. The town will pool the unused assets of the government and not-for-profit sectors, from lawnmowers to trucks, unused space to citizens’ skills and expertise , and make these assets available through an online sharing platform that will allow for borrowing, bartering, and time-banking.
Like the other four runners-up, it will receive €1 million towards the scheme.
Mayors Challenge Grand Prize winner
The top prize went to Barcelona which will receive €5 million towards its proposal to create a digital and community ‘trust network’ for each of its at-risk elderly residents.
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Other winning cities
Athens will produce Synathina, a public platform for engaged citizens. In the face of the economic crisis, this online platform will connect civil society with local institutions and local government collaboratively to devise solutions to local problems, “ensuring solid foundations and sustainable policies for the revival of Athens’ neighborhoods”.
Stockholm is producing Biochar, a citywide programme that involves the city and its residents producing biochar, an organic substance that increases tree growth, sequesters carbon, and purifies storm water runoff. Citizens will bring their green waste to locations across the city for conversion to biochar and, ultimately, redistribution.
Warsaw will produce Virtual Warsaw, an Urban Information System for Visually Impaired people. To facilitate mobility for the visually impaired, Warsaw will place thousands of beacons around the city that communicate with users through mobile apps. “These tools promise to transform lives, saving the visually impaired hours of travel per day and allowing them greater self-sufficiency”.
Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, said:
“To meet the biggest challenges of the 21st century, city leaders must think creatively and be unafraid to try new things – and the Mayors Challenge is designed to help them do that. Cities are shaping the future of our planet, and Bloomberg Philanthropies is committed to helping mayors pioneer new innovations – and to helping their most promising ideas spread around the world.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies ran the inaugural Mayors Challenge in the USA. The European competition was supported by Eurocities, LES Cities, and Nestsa, the UK’s innovation foundation.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.