Not too long ago, “Edifício União” was a high-rise slum dwelling in São Paulo – an unfinished building in the center of Brazil’s largest city in which 73 families lived partially under dangerous conditions. With the help of several architecture students, the families transformed the neglected structure into a safe home – and were honored with the “Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award” by the Alfred Herrhausen Society (AHS), the international forum of Deutsche Bank.

The US$ 100,000 prize will fund educational initiatives and continued renovation of the apartments – a development that thrills Gabrielly, a thirteen-year-old resident of Edifício União. On December 5, 2008, the teenager sent a letter to the Alfred Herrhausen Society.
The Urban Age Award, which the Alfred Herrhausen Society has been presenting annually since 2007, attracted 130 applicants last year. Four projects advanced to the final round. Because of the unique quality and achievement of each, the jury decided not only to award the main prize to the Edifício União initiative but also to honor the three other contestants with a symbolic contribution of US$ 5,000 from the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation.

The award honors creative, existing projects aimed at improving life in fast-growing megacities. A prerequisite is an exemplary partnership between citizens, companies, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and national institutions. A jury consisting of national and international members selects the winner.

Triratna Prerana Mandal (TPM) and the Waterfronts Center in Mumbai won the first Urban Age Award in 2007. TPM strives to improve the living and working conditions in Asia’s largest slum and help people overcome poverty through education. The Waterfronts Center is an action group that has turned a rundown shoreline into an attractive public strolling area.

The prize is part of the annual Urban Age Conference, which the Alfred Herrhausen Society has been hosting since 2005 together with the London School of Economics in alternating megacities – and with huge success. The growing number of participants underscores the rising importance of the Urban Age Conference series: more than 400 people attended last year’s event, up from 150 at the first conference in New York in 2005.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox attended the 2006 conference in Mexico City, and a year later German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel joined Deutsche Bank Chairman of the Management Board Dr. Josef Ackermann at the event in Mumbai, India.

In 2009, the Urban Age Conference will take place in Istanbul, Turkey – the gateway between Europe and Asia. Over the past few years, the conference series has developed a network of city planners, mayors, architects, scholars, and organizations – all with a common goal: to overcome the various challenges facing the fast-growing megacities of the 21st century, particularly in the areas of transportation, environment, immigration, crime and social structures, and to make these cities more inhabitable and sustainable.

To drive synergies and increase the international impact, the Alfred Herrhausen Society will combine both the Urban Age Award and the Urban Age Conference network into one going forward. And Deutsche Bank always plays a key role, be it by offering its expertise as a global financial service provider or, just as important, by encouraging its employees to support both networks and the projects through their personal involvement.

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