AIPH World Green City Awards 2024: Serving on the Youth Jury

In 2024, Widson Ambaisi was selected as a Youth Jury Member for the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) World Green City Awards. The awards recognise cities that have implemented outstanding green infrastructure projects — parks, urban forests, green corridors, biodiversity programs, and climate adaptation landscapes.

What the role involved:

The Youth Jury reviewed submissions from cities across six continents. Each entry included project documentation, impact data, community engagement evidence, and plans for long-term maintenance and monitoring. We evaluated projects against criteria including environmental impact, social inclusion, innovation, and scalability.

What stood out:

The strongest submissions shared common characteristics: they were designed with specific, measurable outcomes (temperature reduction, biodiversity counts, stormwater capacity), they included community engagement from the planning stage, and they had funded maintenance programs — not just construction budgets. The weakest submissions looked impressive in photos but lacked evidence of sustained impact or community benefit.

Relevance to East African practice:

Seeing how cities in South Korea, Singapore, Colombia, and elsewhere approach green infrastructure provides useful reference points for what's possible in Kenyan cities. The scale differs, but the principles are transferable: design for measurable outcomes, select species based on site conditions, plan maintenance before you plant, and involve the community in stewardship.

For Botanique Designers, this experience reinforced our approach to every project — whether it's a residential garden in Karen or a public park in Mogadishu. Design decisions should be grounded in plant science, adapted to local conditions, and planned with long-term care in mind. The AIPH recognition connects our practice to a global community of professionals working on the same challenges.