Pasig City beats out 630+ cities worldwide to win $1M Bloomberg grant for floating parks

Pasig City secured a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies after being named one of 24 cities globally to win the Mayors Challenge 2025–2026 — recognition tied to its proposal to build floating parks along its waterways as a solution to the city’s chronic shortage of green and open spaces. The winning initiative is designed to be co-created and co-managed with Pasig residents, embedding community participation into both the planning and long-term governance of the parks. Alongside the grant funding, the city also receives technical assistance and dedicated personnel support as part of the award package. Pasig was chosen from a field of more than 630 local government units that submitted proposals for the global competition. Mayor Vico Sotto traveled to Madrid, Spain, to represent the city at Bloomberg CityLab 2026, a global cities summit held from April 27 to 29, where more than 100 mayors convened for panels, innovation sessions, and discussions on pressing urban governance challenges. There, winning mayors also mapped out implementation plans for their respective grant-funded projects. Sotto participated in the summit’s Mayors’ Innovation Studio and was tapped as a panelist for a breakout session titled “Reimagining Rivers,” which brought together city leaders exploring new approaches to urban river redevelopment. The Madrid forum also gave Pasig officials direct access to a network of global urban experts — a resource the city government sees as integral to how it develops and refines its floating parks concept ahead of implementation.