The 2014 World Cities Day Challenge: what's your favourite city idea?

With World Cities Day fast approaching, the 36 finalists for our Cities Day Challenge are putting the finishing touches – a bit of Photoshop, a lot of glitter – on their show-stopping presentations. This coming Friday, they’ll take the stage at Guardian Cities to trumpet their city’s best idea before our panel of fire-breathing judges, who will grill them with some tough questions.

Starting at 8am GMT and running until 4pm, each contestant will have 12 minutes in the hot seat to present their idea. From baths floating in the river, to a green zone around the city, to a network of connected cultural rooftops, the ideas are as varied as the cities they represent: from Tallinn to Calgary to Bhubaneswar. The Challenge is presented in conjunction with UN-Habitat, and we’ll feature the winner in an in-depth piece at Guardian Cities.

Cheer on your city when it’s their turn in the hot seat – you can find the schedule below.

Our esteemed panel of judges includes:

Ivan Harbour (@RSHP_News), one third of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, the award-winning architectural firm.
Jennifer Keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat), the chief planner for the city of Toronto.
Anna Minton (@annaminton), the author of Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First-Century City. She is joined in the judging process by her students from the University of East London’s Production of Place MA in Architecture.
Dan Hill (@CityOfSound), the director of futures at the UK’s Future Cities Catapult.
Usman Haque (@uah), the London-based artist and architect who designs interactive architectural systems.
Adam Greenfield (@agpublic), the author of Against the Smart City, a senior urban fellow at LSE Cities and runs New York-based design practice Urbanscale.

Get involved! You can follow the whole day on Twitter at @guardiancities and join in the conversations by using the hashtag #CitiesDay. Tweet your questions and comments and cheer on your favourite idea throughout the day.

Before it all kicks off, however, we’d love to see what you think your city’s best idea, project or initiative is. Share your photos, videos and stories of something brilliant that your city does better than any other. We will feature a selection of your submissions on the site throughout World Cities Day. Just click on the blue Contribute button at the top of the page.

Guardian World Cities Day Challenge schedule

Times in GMT (followed by local time in brackets)

08:00 Auckland (21:00)
08:12 Bhubaneswar (14:42)
08:24 Helsinki (10:24)
08:36 Tallinn (10:36)
08:48 Paris (09:48)
09:00 Johannesburg (11:00)
09:24 Manila (17:24)
09:36 Addis (12:36)
09:48 Hong Kong (17:48)
10:00 Ismir (12:00)
10:12 Beijing (18:12)
10:24 Fiskars (12:24)
10:36 Manchester
10:48 Seville (11:48)
11:00 Istanbul (13:00)
11:24 Brussels (12:24)
11:36 Kumasi
12:00 Mumbai (17:30)
12:12 Florence (13:12)
12:24 Berlin (13:24)
12:36 Porto Alegre (10:36)
12:48 Nottingham (12:48)
13:12 London
13:24 Croydon
13:36 Toronto (09:36)
13:48 Indianapolis (09:48)
14:00 Barcelona (15:00)
14:12 Buffalo (10:12)
14:24 Mexico City (08:24)
14:36 Washington DC (10:36)
14:48 Bogota (09:48)
15:00 Chicago (10:00)
15:12 Calgary (09:12)
15:24 Monterrey (08:24)
15:36 South San Francisco (08:36)
15:48 Vancouver (08:48)

May the best city idea win!