Alfred Herrhausen Society, the international forum of Deutsche Bank, announced the seventh Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award, which felicitates exemplary projects that aspire to improve the quality of life and urban environment, for the wider Delhi area.

The travelling award worth USD 100 000 (INR 48 lakhs) was first launched in 2007 in Mumbai, and jointly presented to Triratana Prerana Mandal (TPM) a community toilet initiative and to Mumbai Waterfronts Development Centre, an open waterfront restoration project. German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the prestigious award presentation ceremony along with legendary actress and prominent social worker Shabana Azmi.



The award recognizes urban problems such as lack of civic amenities, widespread poverty, unemployment, poor public health and education standards and rewards creative solutions that attempt to solve them. It seeks to encourage citizens, policy-makers, private business and non-governmental organisations to take a proactive role in creating shared responsibilities for the cities of the 21st century – mankind’s first truly ‘urban’ age.

The award focuses on projects that utilize partnerships to benefit communities and local residents by improving their urban environments.



An independent jury, following an open call for applications, adjudicates the award. In 2007 in Mumbai, the jury included actress Shabana Azmi; author Suketu Mehta; and architect Rahul Mehrotra along with Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics, Ricky Burdett; Mexican architect, Enrique Norton; and former Mayor of Washington DC, Anthony Williams.  The call for applications for the Delhi award opens on 29^th May and closes on 15^th August 2014. The jury will be announced shortly.



Thomas Matussek, Managing Director of the Alfred Herrhausen Society says about the opportunities for Delhi, “In the last 20 years Delhi has grown into one of the biggest metropolitan areas on earth. At the same time, however, the number of challenges facing the city has also grown exponentially. Today hundreds of private citizens and social initiatives are active in neighbourhoods, bastis, formal and informal settlements to help people in the city. The Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award is a great opportunity to appreciate and honour these unsung heroes of our time.”

Since Mumbai, the award has travelled to Sao Paulo in 2008, Istanbul in 2009, Mexico City in 2010, Cape Town in 2012 and most recently to Rio de Janeiro in 2013. Winning projects have included, amongst others, community centres in low-income neighbourhoods in Mexico City, childcare shelters and recycling initiatives in Cape Town, and a housing improvement project in Sao Paulo.

The award is associated with the Urban Age project, a worldwide investigation into the future of cities jointly initiated by Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society (international forum of Deutsche Bank), and LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science.