In the competition of the Academy of Urbanism for the Urbanism Awards 2018 Ljubljana made it among the finalists in the European City of the Year category. Bilbao was declared the best city.

The Urbanism Awards is a platform for recognising the best, most enduring or most improved urban environments in Europe. This year it focused on the development of cities since 1945 and their transformation during that time, and the expert jury evaluated how they are ensuring the high quality of life in numerous fields, among others in leading and managing the city, sustainable development and the citizens’ high quality of life.

The awards are presented by the Academy of Urbanism, an autonomous, politically independent organisation promoting exceptional cities. It is comprised of over 500 experts in different fields who each year select 15 final cities in five different categories. This year they chose at their own discretion Ljubljana as one if the three finalists in the European City of the Year category and subsequently visited it within the framework of the evaluation. The evaluators underlined above all Ljubljana’s green identity. They emphasised its green environment to which we devote a lot of attention and the green environment-friendly vision of the city nicely complementing its natural resources. They specifically mentioned we have banned motor traffic in the city centre and dedicated it to pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition to Ljubljana the finalists were Vienna and Bilbao, and the award ceremony was held yesterday in London.