Cities are powerful engines for progress. But rapid urbanization, climate change and inequality are creating unprecedented challenges, making incremental improvements insufficient. To truly thrive, cities must embrace transformative solutions.

The WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities is a global award recognizing projects that drive inclusive and sustainable urban transformation. By highlighting trailblazing initiatives around the world, the Prize celebrates urban innovators whose work improves lives, inspires replication, and catalyzes change across entire cities and beyond.

The Prize awards one grand prize winner $250,000 and four finalists $25,000 each.

2025-2026 Theme: Catalyzing Healthy Cities

Under the theme “Catalyzing Healthy Cities,” the fifth cycle of the Prize seeks pioneering projects demonstrating how cities can enhance livability, strengthen connections to nature, and foster thriving, accessible communities. Eligible initiatives include projects addressing clean air, electric mobility, sustainable and inclusive housing, green public spaces, urban nature restoration, and more.

We invite applications from businesses, NGOs, community groups, local governments, individuals and collaborations of all types from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

How Winners Are Selected

A WRI evaluation team of urban experts selects five finalists through a rigorous, multi-stage review process, carefully assessing each project’s big idea, life-changing impact, and ripple effects within and beyond the city. The evaluation includes extensive validation through stakeholder interviews and community feedback.

An independent jury comprising global leaders in architecture, urban planning, community empowerment and mobility then selects the grand prize winner from these finalists, celebrating a proven solution that exemplifies transformative urban change.

Explore 2023-2024 Finalists & Submissions

Past Grand Prize Winners

Past grand prize winners illustrate the transformative power of urban innovation:

  • Re-Ciclo (2023-2024) revolutionized waste collection in Fortaleza, Brazil, by integrating electric mobility and improving livelihoods for informal recyclers.
  • Todos al Parque (2021-2022) transformed neglected spaces into vibrant, inclusive parks in Barranquilla, Colombia, boosting public health and revitalizing local economies.
  • Sustainable Food Production for a Resilient Rosario (2020-2021) enhanced food security and climate resilience by repurposing urban land for community agriculture in Rosario, Argentina.
  • SARSAI (2019) dramatically reduced child injuries through safer school zones in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and other African cities, creating a highly replicable model for road safety.

Sharing Lessons on Transformational Change

Insights from Prize finalists and winners help shape urban strategies worldwide. Through the Prize, we document powerful lessons from hundreds of urban solutions, integrating this knowledge into WRI Ross Center’s global research, city engagements, data tools and capacity-building programs.

Launched during the 2023-2024 cycle, WRI’s partnership with Yale University’s Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability aims to deepen learning from the Prize and advance excellence in urban sustainability. This ongoing collaboration combines Yale’s academic expertise with WRI’s global and local networks to surface new insights on what drives transformative urban change.

Finalists from the 2023-2024 cycle are featured as case studies in the Hixon Center’s four Practitioner Toolboxes (Built Environment, Climate Ready City, Green City, Healthy City), offering city leaders access to the latest interdisciplinary research to help improve well-being and quality of life.

Explore the case studies here: