First, the Coimbatoreans celebrated the news of their city getting shortlisted as one of the smart cities in India. Now, there is more good news for Coimbatore. It is now official that Coimbatore is one of the 46 cities that have been selected for the Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC), an initiative of the ‘We Love Cities’ campaign.

The EHCC aims to inspire and raise awareness about the sustainability progress being made in cities. It also aims to give the general public an opportunity to celebrate, vote, and upgrade their city by making suggestions to decision-makers. One of the aims of the EHCC is to strengthen the bond between the public and decision-makers.

Through a voting process, the public will vote for a city they think is eligible for sustainable urban development. This is a social media campaign, and through an online process, the public can vote for a city of their choice.

About 20 countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa, and Canada are participating in the campaign. Visitors can log on to www.welovecities.org, choose a country, and vote for one of the shortlisted cities. Coimbatore, Rajkot, and Pune are the three Indian cities that have been shortlisted for the ‘improve your favourite city’ campaign as part of the initiative. Visitors can click on http://www.welovecities.org/coimbatore/ to vote for Coimbatore city.

The winning city will be announced on June 22.

According to the official website, the cities are chosen from those participating in the Earth Hour City Challenge. The website is also inviting ideas from the public to improve the city. The City Challenge is a growing World Wide Fund (WWF) programme, which is currently running in 21 countries. ‘We Love Cities’ is an initiative of the WWF for Nature, an NGO with an international presence. WWF works towards making the world a better place through better transport, green buildings, harnessing the power of nature, and wasting less.