The City 2.0 wins the 2012 TED Prize

Hot on the heels of CEO Colleen Hardwick’s TEDxSFU presentation in November comes word that a unique winner has been granted the 2012 TED Prize: The City 2.0.

Each year, TED offers a prize of $100,000 to a “wish” project focused on collaboration. Traditionally the TED prize has gone to an individual with a big idea; this is the first time it has been awarded to an idea itself. We at PlaceSpeak think it is an inspired choice and look forward to playing a part in making the City 2.0 a reality.

TED is pleased to announce the winner of the 2012 TED Prize.

For the first time in the history of the prize, it is being awarded not to an individual, but to an idea. It is an idea upon which our planet’s future depends.

The 2012 TED Prize is awarded to….the City 2.0.

The City 2.0 is the city of the future… a future in which more than ten billion people on planet Earth must somehow live sustainably.

The City 2.0 is not a sterile utopian dream, but a real-world upgrade tapping into humanity’s collective wisdom.

The City 2.0 promotes innovation, education, culture, and economic opportunity.

The City 2.0 reduces the carbon footprint of its occupants, facilitates smaller families, and eases the environmental pressure on the world’s rural areas.

The City 2.0 is a place of beauty, wonder, excitement, inclusion, diversity, life.

The City 2.0 is the city that works

The Atlantic Cities website offers a worthwhile analysis of this award and what the prize will mean for cities.