China                                                                                                Submission Details

The ancient canal city of Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, eastern China, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for preserving a unique cultural and historical heritage at a time of rapid urbanization. The city which dates back to 490 BC, is known variously as the City of Waters, the City of Bridges, the City of Calligraphy, the City of Tea, and the City of Scholars. Despite rapid urbanization, the urban conservation programme has enabled this city to present itself as an elegant, peaceful and cultured place with a decent quality of life. The award recognizes the restoration of its seven historic communities where buildings have been restored or renovated, the rivers cleaned up, and the streets spruced up to show off its traditional mix of white walls and black roofs.

China                                                                                                Submission Details

The bustling port city of Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province, also in eastern China, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for setting a new trend in integrated urban-rural development and management through an initiative by the city's authorities to improve the quality of life for farmers and other residents in its hinterland. Zhangjiagang, just half an hour's drive from Shanghai along a new super-highway, is the first Chinese city to explore a system of reallocating urban and rural resources so that people living in town or the countryside can derive the maximum benefit. With a reputation for showing the way as one of China's cleaner and safer cities, its new shopping malls and high rise apartment blocks, in many ways symbolize the country's modernization. Notable is its modern state-of-the-art community resource centers, the hub of the city's new found harmony.

Russia                                                                                              Submission Details

The city of Bugulma in the Tartarstan Republic of western Russia gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for transforming its contaminated water system into cheaper, safer water for its citizens. Founded in 1736, the city at the confluence of the Bugulminka and Stepnoy Zay rivers, is the centre of petroleum mining in Tatarstan. Other economic activities in the city include machinery production, the processing of agricultural products, and construction, all of which contributed to pollution of the river. Such was the toxicity, that many people became ill. In 1996, the Clean Water Programme was initiated under the guidance of the Bugulma's mayor and with the support of the Tatarstan's president. It has since improved the standard of living and contributed towards the sustainable development of the city and its outlying districts. Residents now enjoy high quality water. The use of many underground springs allowed for a considerable reduction in chlorine treatment, thus reducing the risk of cancer.

Rwanda                                                                                           Submission Details

The capital of Rwanda, Kigali, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for many innovations in building a model, modern city symbolized by zero tolerance for plastics, improved garbage collection and a substantial reduction in crime. Starting from 1998, the authorities in Kigali began restoring the city's lost glory. They targeted garbage collection, and banned the use of plastic bags. The streets and pavements were beautified, and public transport was upgraded. Other areas included improvement of the sewage system and slum upgrading. In just one decade, Kigali has been transformed into a place to which people come from all corners of the world to see and learn how they can replicate the Kigali modernization and urban conservation model at home.

Mexico                                                                                            Submission Details

Ciudad Juarez, a major Mexican city on the United States border, gets the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for the innovative steps taken to help thousands of flood victims rebuild their homes and lives after the Arroyo del Indio burst its banks following heavy rains in 2006 largely believed to have been brought on by climate change. Since these floods first started in 1990, an estimated 80 people lost their lives and 11,000 people have lost their homes and property. In the last two years, the city's Municipal Planning Institute put the Arroyo del Indio Project into action and helped build 250 new homes for 1,050 people, while transforming the flood zone where they had previously lived into an attractive city park. The project is still underway.