World Mayor Prize sculpture
shows courage and conviction

12 January 2012: When The City Mayors Foundation conceived the World Mayor Project in 2003, it was decided to present a bi-annual prize to mayors who have best shown that they have the vision, passion and skills to make their cities amazing places to live in, to work in and to visit.

City Mayors commissioned French artist Manuel Ferrari to design a sculpture that was as unique as the city of the winning mayor. City Mayors' senior editor, Tann vom Hove, said: “We asked Manuel Ferrari to produce a design that shows what an inspirational mayor can achieve if he builds on strong foundations.”

Before contemplating the design, Manuel Ferrari learnt as much as possible about mayors nominated for the World Mayor Award. “I wanted to know why these mayors aroused such strong feelings,” he said and added that all the mayors he studied had two characteristics in common - courage and conviction.

“I wanted to create a design that also showed courage and conviction,” Manuel Ferrari explained. “I decided on cubes as building blocks which, at first glance, are stacked precariously on top of each other. Closer inspection, however, reveals firm interlocking and construction around an invisible but strong spine.” He said that his design reflected his own experience of living and working in an urban environment. “Many of the world’s most successful cities are prospering because their different communities, often with their own cultures, are united around civic goals,” Manuel Ferrari concluded.

A slim, upward-looking figure stands for all the people who come to cities to realise their ambitions.