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17 April 2012

Finalists for the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award 2012

Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award LogoCape Town, home to almost 4 million people, is a highly differentiated city, filled with almost endless promise but also undermined by various constraints and pressures. The Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award, which is located in Cape Town this year, has attracted 254 entries, the highest number since the award was initiated five years ago in Mumbai, India, and through its subsequent travels to Sao Paolo in Brazil, Istanbul in Turkey, and Mexico City. 

The Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award recognises and celebrates creative solutions to the problems – and opportunities – that city dwellers face. It offers a prize of R750 000 for the winning project.

The panel of international and local jurors convened from 20 to 22 March this year to adjudicate the submissions and tour the city, visiting a clutch of outstanding projects. The eight projects shortlisted as finalists for the award were selected unanimously by the jury. They are, in alphabetical order:

  • Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN) (city-wide)
  • Masiphumelele Community Library (Masiphumelele)
  • Mothers Unite (Lavender Hill)
  • Regeneration of City and Soul (Retreat)
  • Rocklands Urban Abundance Centre (Rocklands, Mitchells Plain)
  • Social Justice Coalition (Khayelitsha)
  • Thrive Recycling (Imizamo Yethu/Hout Bay)
  • VPUU – Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading  (Khayelitsha) 

The winner of this year’s Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award will be announced at a ceremony on 19 April 2012 in Cape Town. 

The jury said the submissions reflect the rich reservoir of organisations, talent, energy and grassroots leadership across all segments of the city, a diversity of activism that bodes well for Cape Town’s future. The high number of entries made the adjudication process difficult but also profoundly rewarding, and the jury members said they felt humbled and inspired by the range of initiatives all over the city. 

The three international jurors are: Professor Ricky Burdett, director of LSE Cities; Tony Williams, former Mayor of Washington D.C. and Enrique Norten, renowned architect based at TEN Arquitectos, Mexico/NY. Capetonian jury members are: Nomfundo Walaza, CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre; Malika Ndlovu, poet, playwright and performance artist; Andrew Boraine, CEO of the Cape Town Partnership; and jury chair, Professor Edgar Pieterse, director of the African Centre for Cities at UCT. 

For more information on the award, visit http://urban-age.net/dbua-award/.

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