It will face Wellington in a category open to cities with more than 100,000 residents.
The goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2030 was one of the key reasons for the nomination with planting initiatives towards this end praised. LED street lamp replacements were also cited.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful chairwoman Mandy Mayhem-Bullock said the nomination was great.
The local organisation did its share of planting, one of its biggest initiatives, run with the Rotary Club of Dunedin, being the Trees For Families event to plant trees along the cycle track near Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Ms Bullock liked Dunedin’s chances, saying it was "far more beautiful" than the capital city.
"Beautiful bays, less population ... and Dunedin’s got all those wilding spaces Wellington hasn’t got, and more wildlife too."
Dunedin was previously named most beautiful city in 2018, and before that in 2008.
Dunedin is the only South Island centre to be nominated in the town and city awards.
Up for most beautiful small town (1000-9999 residents) are Foxton and Kaitaia, most beautiful large town (10,000-29,999 residents) Taupo and Whakatane, and most beautiful small city (30,000-99,999 residents) Whanganui and Hastings.
All four category winners will compete for the supreme award, which names the most beautiful town or city in the country.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful chief executive Heather Saunderson said the nominations recognised local governments with ambitious goals for environmental improvement.
"This year we’ve been impressed with the commitment and innovation ... councils have shown across beautification and waste management initiatives, as well as the way in which they’ve tackled many of today’s environmental issues through their climate change strategies."
The winners will be announced at Auckland Zoo on October 28.
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Comments
It's a shame the deliberately city shed some of its beauty by killing its beautiful distinctive street lighting, favouring bland LED over the prettier orange sodium hue. Of course, the city could have retained some old orange sodium street lamps to highlight key land marks and vistas... but that would've been far too innovative.
As a kid, one of my favourite sights was rounding the corner at Pine Hill after a holiday in Central (or Christchurch, if I had been naughty), and drinking in the welcoming warmth of Dunedin resplendent in all it's orange-hued glory. Not any more....I'd wager the decision to kill Dunedin's 'orange' was made by an Auckland-born consultant paid $150k a year lacking such memories.
Is it just me or was this decision symptomatic of a broader, incremental trend eating away at Dunedin's heritage....and the city's ability to keep its distinctive "beautiful" claim?
Perhaps, now, the Capital has a shot now at prettiest large city after all....
Good luck Dunedin!
LED is like studio downlighting. A kind of pooling in streets. It is more congruent with 'heritage' illumination and 'dark skies' concepts. 'Course, we have no interest in Dunedin being awarded anything, we just want any excuse to bag the Council.
I guess then aron that you think the city will actually win?.
Dunedin, unlike Mt Victoria, doesn't have Goth vampires jumping on people by night.
I think.
Sounds like the organisers have lost the plot. Most beautiful should clearly be renamed "most greens aligned".
But then again IMO New Zealand only has one large city and that is the mess called Auckland.
Which is confirmed by the "weather" presenters after the nightly news and Dunedin is the last city they mention, smaller towns than Dunedin get a mention before Dunedin does...