ZURICH, 28 January 2014: The launch of the Guardian Cities website by Guardian News and Media Limited has been greeted by New7Wonders, which sees it as a valuable addition to the conversation about our planet’s urban future. The move is a further validation of the New7Wonders Cities campaign that began on 11 November 2011 with the goal of involving the public in a global vote to select 7 cities that best represent the world’s urban past, present and future.
“With more than half of humanity now living in cities, we are officially an urban species and there’s enormous interest in how this will impact our planet,” said Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders. “New7Wonders Cities is an interactive, inclusive way of raising awareness of the urbanization changes and challenges that could have huge benefits human development. Guardian Cities is a very different kind of forum but we expect that it will address the issues in ways that can complement our work.”
In alphabetical order, the 28 Official Finalists in the New7Wonders Cities campaign that runs across three elimination phases and ends on 7 December 2014 are:
Athens, Greece; Bangkok, Thailand; Barcelona, Spain; Beirut, Lebanon; Casablanca, Morocco; Chicago, USA; Doha, Qatar; Durban, South Africa; Havana, Cuba; Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Istanbul, Turkey; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Kyoto, Japan; La Paz, Bolivia; London, United Kingdom; Mendoza, Argentina; Mexico City, Mexico; Mumbai, India; Perth, Australia; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Prague, the Czech Republic; Quito, Ecuador; Reykjavik, Iceland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Seoul, South Korea; Shenzhen, China; Vancouver, Canada, and Vigan, the Philippines.