Amaravati, February 26 Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh, has received a USD 1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies for its 2025-26 "Mayors Challenge" for innovative climate resilience initiatives.
The coastal city won the award on February 25 for its initiative, Vizag-Prajamukhi Urban Living Lab (V-PULL).
"Visakhapatnam has secured a major global honor, winning a USD 1 million grant in the prestigious Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025-2026 "Mayors Challenge" for its innovative climate resilience initiative," an official statement said on Thursday.
Selected as one of the 24 global winners, Vizag competed with over 630 cities worldwide.
V-PULL, from the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), has earned international recognition for its civic participation framework aimed at mitigating the impacts of floods, cyclones, and severe heatwaves through collaborative and citizen-driven solutions.
It operates under a citizen-centric, climate-resilient, and hyperlocal governance approach.
In the initial phase of the competition, GVMC was shortlisted among the top 50 finalists and received USD 50,000 in seed funding along with technical assistance, the statement said.
With this support, the civic body implemented pilot interventions at the local level, organized ward-level community meetings, tested hyperlocal sensing systems, and introduced data-driven decision-making tools.
Furthermore, participatory climate resilience and disaster preparedness measures helped establish an effective feedback mechanism between citizens and municipal departments, strengthening bottom-up governance, the statement said.
"Being selected as a winner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies 2025-2026 "Mayors Challenge" is a great honor for GVMC. This recognition strengthens our belief that cities can lead transformative change when innovation is grounded in citizen participation and field-tested solutions," GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg said.
Meanwhile, the port city aims to utilize the USD 1 million grant to strengthen the bottom-up governance approach, enhance disaster preparedness, and expand these initiatives to more wards across the city.
The "Mayors Challenge" was launched by Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and former Mayor of New York City, to support bold and creative city governments in solving pressing urban challenges.
With this recognition, Visakhapatnam now shares the global platform with leading international cities, marking a significant milestone in Vizag's journey towards globally recognized climate-resilient urban governance, the statement added.
