The city of Curridabat to the east of San José, is one of the 16 finalists in the first edition of the Wellbeing City Award, in the category of Sustainable Development.

The Wellbeing City Award is an initiative of NewCities and its partners Novartis Foundation, Novartis US Foundation, and the City of Montréal, and it recognizes cities placing wellbeing at the center of urban design, planning and policies.

The Award was launched in September 2018. More than 100 cities from 27 countries and six continents were considered. The contest has four different categories: Community, Economy and Opportunity, Public Health and Sustainable Development; each category has four finalists.
In the category of Sustainable Development the finalist cities are: Avià (Catalonia) (Spain), Curridabat (Costa Rica), Lisbon (Portugal), Moonee Valley (in Melbourne metropolitan area) (Australia).

Curridabat presented the project: Ciudad Dulce (Sweet City) which is an initiative to transform and area that is mainly asphalt into green infrastructure and a system of 64 new or remodeled parks in 21 neighborhoods of the county.

“One laureate in each of the four categories, and one overall 2019 Wellbeing City laureate will be announced April 2019”, explains the press release.

“With improving the standard of urban life as the ultimate goal, cities must be judged on activities and investments that promote wellbeing. We want to increase the mandate for and recognize cities prioritizing wellbeing. And that is why we launched this important Award”, stated John Rossant, Founder and Chairperson of NewCities.

A formal ceremony and international urban wellbeing forum will be held in Montréal in mid-2019.