Pasig wins Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge

In 2021, we first joined the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge and encouraged Philippine cities to enter this competition for city innovation. The objective was for cities to design innovative solutions to address specific problems in their cities. The winners–15 of them– were to receive $1 million and technical assistance from Bloomberg Philanthropies to implement their project proposal. Out of over 600 cities who submitted proposals, Butuan City and the City of Manila were selected among the Top 50 and given consultants to help polish their proposals for the final judging. Butuan City emerged as one of the final 15 with their Agriboost project designed to link farmers to markets through technology.

In 2024, we once again joined the Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge, its sixth round of the competition. Philippine cities were encouraged to submit proposals under the theme “Core City Services, Reimagined.” City services were described as public transportation, education, safety, parks and libraries, health, social services, internet connectivity, housing and shelter, water and infrastructure, waste management and sanitation, economic and workforce development, and energy use.

Congratulations to Pasig City and Mayor Vico Sotto and his team for being awarded a grant of $1million in the recently concluded Bloomberg Global Mayors Challenge. Pasig was one of 24 cities selected worldwide for the challenge, which awards cities for developing innovative proposals to solve core city problems. About 630 cities entered the competition, which is run once every three years.

Pasig’s award-winning entry was to create more open spaces in its crowded city by converting barges moored along the river into a network of floating parks. The parks would contain green public spaces for recreation and access to essential community services like health clinics, libraries, and exercise and wellness spaces. At the same time, flood control and waterway cleanups would be implemented along the river to ensure the city is kept safe from floods.

Pasig approached the problem and arrived at a solution through a participatory planning approach that involved community residents, local government, and private sector experts. Focus group discussions and the creation of a mock-up were used to bring out ideas to improve on the original concept. The Bloomberg grant together with technical assistance and consultants provided by Bloomberg will now enable Pasig to take this from concept to reality.

Aside from Pasig, two other Philippine cities made it to the list of Top 50 cities out of the 630 proposals submitted.

Naga City was cited for its flood early warning system which involved using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), sensors, and painted markers along the river running through the city. Sensors would also be placed as far away as Mt. Isarog. Together with data collected by a corps of citizen-scientists, all data would be fed into a command center which monitors rainfall and water levels to give the city early warning so it can take preemptive action. Community protocols were to be established so warning announcements could be made. The early warning system is part of an overall urban planning exercise to protect the city from floods caused by extreme rainfall. Local universities were involved in the training of citizen-scientists and development of sensors.

Cauayan City (Isabela) was cited for its public health program to reduce dengue cases. The project called for the deployment of mosquito larvae traps in crowded barangays and to use sensors and AI to track its potential for a dengue outbreak. An algorithm would provide early warning and enable city health services to advise residents on sanitation practices to prevent outbreaks. Local universities were involved in the development of the sensors and larvae traps.

Liveable Cities believes that our cities need to be competitive, sustainable, and resilient. The path forward lies in building good working relationships between local governments, the private sector, and local communities. It will also involve greater use of data and technology to enable more data-driven decision-making.

Liveable Cities is proud to have been able to work with all three cities in their one-and-a-half year journey through the Bloomberg Global Mayor Challenge process. We are convinced that Philippine cities can innovate and compete with cities around the world to look for imaginative solutions to local problems. We’ve had some experience working with Bloomberg and look forward to expanding our connections between Philippine cities and other cities worldwide so we can learn from best practices globally.