Romania’s Alba Iulia, Bistrița and Brașov enter WWF’s global We Love Cities competition

Romania’s Alba Iulia, Bistrița, and Brașov have joined WWF’s global We Love Cities competition, which encourages public involvement in local climate and sustainability efforts. Voting opened on October 31 and will continue until November 30, according to Romania Insider.

This year’s campaign includes 29 cities in 18 countries. Each participating city has a dedicated page on the We Love Cities website, where people in Romania and abroad can vote and submit proposals through an online form.

Suggested measures may address issues such as expanding green spaces, improving public transportation, reducing pollution, adapting cities to heat waves, and encouraging walking and cycling.

“The message of the campaign is simple: cities change for the better when authorities and citizens work together,” WWF Romania said in its announcement.

The public can also support the participating cities by following, liking, and sharing campaign posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok using hashtags including #WeLoveCities, #WeLoveAlbaIulia, #WeLoveBistrița, and #WeLoveBrașov.

The city receiving the most votes will be named the competition’s winner. WWF said the distinction would recognize its efforts to raise awareness and involve residents in local climate and sustainability action.

The ideas submitted through the campaign will be presented to the three municipalities for possible use in initiatives addressing community needs.

As climate pledges stall in international negotiation halls, a dynamic grassroots movement is proving that the real engine of environmental action lives directly in municipal neighborhoods. The We Love Cities campaign, a global initiative created by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), bridges policy and public participation by turning municipal climate action into an engaging civic competition.

Part of WWF’s broader One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), the biennial campaign invites residents across continents to celebrate, vote for, and actively shape the sustainability plans of their home cities. The result is a vibrant global showcase proving that the race to net-zero can be democratic, community-driven, and intensely local.

Campaign Architecture: How “We Love Cities” Operates

From Passive Urbanites to Co-Creators of Urban Policy

The true innovation of We Love Cities lies in its two-pronged approach: celebration and consultation. Rather than functioning as a standard online popularity contest, the campaign serves as an active civic laboratory.

1. Digital Mobilization and Local Pride:

   During the month-long voting period, participating municipalities launch creative public awareness campaigns. From community bike rides and river cleanup drives to interactive museum exhibits, local governments invite residents to use custom hashtags to share what makes their city green, livable, and forward-thinking.

2. Actionable Policy Feedback Loops:

   Alongside voting, citizens submit concrete improvement suggestions via the WWF digital platform. These proposals range from expanding bike-lane corridors and installing solar arrays on historic school buildings to rehabilitating degraded urban wetlands. WWF compiles these community submissions into comprehensive feedback briefs presented directly to city planners and mayors.

Global Reach, Local Champions

Over successive editions, We Love Cities has engaged over 150 cities across 30+ nations, mobilizing millions of social media interactions and generating tens of thousands of citizen proposals. The initiative has demonstrated that climate ambition is not restricted to wealthy metropolitan capitals; regional urban centers from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa consistently emerge as standout innovators.

• Jakarta, Indonesia: A former winner that demonstrated massive civic mobilization, turning public engagement into tangible policies for bus rapid transit (BRT) expansion and flood-mitigation green infrastructure.

• Probolinggo and Balikpapan (Indonesia), Quezon City (Philippines): Examples of Asian municipalities that leveraged the campaign to accelerate mangrove reforestation, decentralized solar installations, and organic waste management.

• European and Latin American Innovators: Cities from Sweden to Colombia have used the platform to test community interest in pedestrianized downtown cores and urban canopy expansions to combat heat island effects.

The OPCC Link: Grounding Passion in Hard Science

What protects We Love Cities from accusations of performative environmentalism is its direct connection to the One Planet City Challenge. Cities cannot simply sign up; they must first submit transparent, measurable climate action data to the CDP-ICLEI unified tracking platform.

An independent international jury of urban planning and climate experts evaluates these municipal plans against strict criteria aligned with the 1.5°C targets of the Paris Agreement. Only those cities demonstrating rigorous, science-based roadmaps for carbon reduction qualify as OPCC finalists and earn a spot on the We Love Cities voting ballot.

Redefining Urban Governance for a Climate-Disrupted Era

As urban populations continue to swell, cities will generate over 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously facing the brunt of climate impacts—from flash floods to historic heatwaves.

WWF’s We Love Cities offers a compelling blueprint for modern governance: showing that top-down municipal regulations achieve lasting success only when met with bottom-up civic affection and active public co-ownership. By giving residents a direct voice in designing the streets they walk every day, the campaign reminds the world that loving a city means building its sustainable future.

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