LivCom Awards

The LivCom Awards

The International Awards for Liveable Communities/LivCom Awards were launched in 1997 and is the World’s major Awards Competition focusing on International Best Practice regarding the management of the local environment and development. The objective of LivCom Awards is to develop and share International Best Practices, with further objective of improving living quality of individual citizens through the creation of “liveable communities”. As a UN-backed Awards Competition, LivCom partners an MOU with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 2007, followed by establishing partnership with multiple UN Agencies and international organizations afterwards.

The LivCom Awards was initiated by the International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration and is managed by the LivCom Committee which is a UK registered nonprofit Association supported by United Nations. LivCom is non-political, embracing all nations and cultures, over 80 countries have been represented within the Awards in the past decades. The high level of entries from major cities around the world are testament to the value of cities and communities being recognized for the standard of their city and the value of sharing best practice at the competition. These partnerships have inevitably led to mutual advancement, more effective use of resources and the improvement of quality of life within communities.

The Awards are open to both the Public and Private Sectors and joint Partnerships. Any person with a responsibility for the local environment, political or technical, has a responsibility to be aware of the Best Practices beyond that of their own country. It is a duty to be aware of International Best Practices and this can be achieved by participation in the Awards.

Since 2018, LivCom Awards have been upgraded with major adjustments made with regards to the judging criteria and categories connecting the global agenda for sustainable development and the implementation of SDGs at the local level. Inter alia organizing competition event, the LivCom will organize forum and technical conferences at the Finals with different hot-spot themes annually to provide a networking platform for exchanging ideas and best practices; release the Report on Liveable Cities and Communities; establish a city network partnership at global level, etc.

LivCom is unique. Participation in the Awards is an investment to the future of a community.

The LivCom Committee

The LivCom Committee is a leading international research Association in the sector of local environment and development supported by multiple UN agencies. It aims to promote sustainable urban development and improve the living quality of residents by conducting research and developing international guidelines on building liveable communities and establishing platform for dialogue and exchanges.

The LivCom Committee is registered in London with liaison offices in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and Arab region. Its Board and Advisory Commission are composed of a group of outstanding global researchers, policymakers, civic leaders, etc, with local partner network radiating to 2000+ cities and organizations from more than 100 countries around the world.

Over the past few decades, the LivCom Committee has always valued "liveability" as the eternal theme of sustainable urban development. By organizing annual high-profile global events such as LivCom Awards, Forum, technical conferences, exhibition, training programme and releasing research reports and initiatives working together with UN agencies and international partners, LivCom consistently continues to inspire innovation and transformation in local development, so as to bring benefits for tens of thousands of professionals and over 300 million residents.

Our History

The LivCom Awards

The LivCom Awards have developed a proud international reputation for promoting livable communities. Launched in 1997, the Awards are endorsed by a number of UN Agencies and international organizations and is the world’s major awards competition focusing on best practices in the management of the local environment and development.

LivCom and UNEP Sign MOU in Nov 26, 2007

An Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between LivCom and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), committing both organisations to developing programmes to further mutual environmental objectives, including jointly organize city governments from across the world to take part in LivCom Awards and UNEP’s major initiatives.

The First Online LivCom Presentations on December 6, 2021

Due to the global pandemic, the 2021 LivCom Presentations were organized virtually for the first time in history at 6-8 December 2021. City delegates from different corners of the world gathered online to share and celebrate their endeavors in improving environment and the living quality of their citizens.

Category of Awards

The LivCom Awards is the world’s major Competition for local communities that focuses on environmental management and the creation of liveable communities.

The objective of The LivCom Awards is to encourage best practice, innovation and leadership in providing a vibrant, environmentally sustainable community that improves the quality of life.

Involvement in The LivCom Awards will result in increased international profile for your community and an opportunity to become aware of International Best Practice in the management of the local environment.

Whole City Award

There are five population categories in the Whole City Award (also known as the Nations in Bloom Award). Cities are not compared against others within their population category but are judged as to how they are performing in respect of the judging criteria within the cultural, political, economic, geographic and climatic environment in which they are situated.

The demographic category of Whole City Award 2025 has been adjusted. Please register according to the new version below.

Whole City is sub-categorized as A-E

Category / Average Daytime Population:

A Up to 75,000

B 75,001 - 200,000

C 200,001 - 400,000

D 400,001 - 1,000,000

E Over 1,000,000

Project Award

The objective of Project Award (Environmentally Sustainable Project Award) is to recognise innovative Projects that demonstrate sustainability and environmental awareness, as well as have a positive impact on the local community and environment.

The judging of the Project Award will have the same focus as the Whole City Award. The best practice of the project should directly facilitate cities to realize the goals of safety, health, resilience and sustainability.

Eligible Projects will be those that have been completed within the past two years, or those of which a significant proportion has been completed, including nature projects, built projects and social economy projects, etc. Projects may be from the public sector, private sector, or from joint partnership. More than one Project may be entered. As an important part of management of local environment and development, rural areas (villages) are encouraged to apply for the Project Awards.

Technology and Solution Award

The objective of the Technology and Solution Award (T&S Award) is to explore the excellent “technologies” and “solutions” in promoting the sustainable development of cities and communities. with different themes identified for each session. The Award focuses on dealing with concrete problems and challenges in certain particular field of sustainable development and requires innovation and replicability.

TSA will continue to cover as many areas of building liveable communities as possible, hoping to provide best toolkits and methodologies for sustainable recovery of cities.