Urbanization Penn IUR Announces the 2023 Lawrence C. Nussdorf Urban Leadership Prize Winners

The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2023 Lawrence C. Nussdorf Urban Leadership Prize, which recognizes leaders who are guiding cities toward a sustainable and equitable future. This year four pathbreaking urban leaders from around the globe will be honored. The 2023 awardees are Steve Adler, Former Mayor of Austin; Manuel A. Alculete Lopes de Araújo, Mayor, Municipality of Quelimane, Mozambique; Eleni (Lenio) Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat & Arsht-Rock, and Chief Heat Officer, Athens, Greece; and Sheela Patel, Founding Director, Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC).

Penn IUR will honor the work of these exceptional leaders on April 21, 2023 at its 18th annual Urban Leadership Forum, entitled Accelerating Urban Climate Solutions for All. To attend the Urban Leadership Forum, please register at the Penn IUR website.

About the Awardees

On April 21, 2023 Penn IUR will award the 2023 Lawrence C. Nussdorf Urban Leadership Prize to four pathbreaking urban leaders from around the globe.

Sheela Patel is a grassroots urban activist who has spent the last four decades working in partnership with vulnerable communities living in informal settlements, both in India as part of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers’ (SPARC) partnerships with Mahila Milan and the National Slum Dwellers Federation, and globally through Slum/Shack Dwellers International. On behalf of these organizations, Patel advocates especially for vulnerable women living in informal settlements, seeking a seat at the table in national, regional, and global debates about poverty. Recently, she has been working on the challenges of climate change and how they impact cities’ most vulnerable people, seeking to highlight their role as first responders to natural disasters and the urgent need to include urban, rural, indigenous, and other networks in a just transition to a more sustainable world. 

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