Sheffield honoured
Duncan Campbell
Saturday November 10, 2007
Guardian

A Sheffield garden, a Glasgow street and a slice of old Newcastle were honoured yesterday as outstanding examples of how cities can be improved.
The awards are aimed at encouraging planners and architects to make urban spaces as attractive and accessible as possible.

Berlin beat Amsterdam and Barcelona to win the Academy of Urbanism's European City of the Year award, while the Great Town award went to Kilkenny City in Ireland, with St Andrews in Scotland and Winchester in England as runners-up. The Great Neighbourhood award was won by Grainger Town in Newcastle, beating Soho in London and Temple Bar, Dublin.

Buchanan Street in Glasgow won the Great Street prize, defeating O'Connell Street in Dublin and Regent Street, London, while Sheffield's Peace and Winter Gardens took the Great Place award ahead of Quayside in Newcastle/Gateshead and London's South Bank.

The academy was set up two years ago with the encouragement of the Royal Institute of British Architects and with the aim of encouraging urban spaces to "advance the quality of human habitation and ensure the survival and recovery of the natural environment, at both a global and local scale".

The Guardian columnist Sir Simon Jenkins was the keynote speaker at yesterday's awards ceremony at the Dorchester hotel in London.

Berlin won the European city award for "rediscovering and reinventing its unique sense of place".