EDMONTON (CBC) - Mayor Stephen Mandel has returned to Edmonton with the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership, after a special ceremony with Prince Charles on Wednesday in Toronto.

"It's a gorgeous plaque," said the mayor. "You know we've got the Prince of Wales flag as well, as part of the deal, so it's really quite cool."

Edmonton is only the second western Canadian city to receive the award, which is given annually to municipalities that demonstrate a commitment to preserving historic places. Victoria was honoured in 2001.

"He felt it's really important to cities like Edmonton to understand the importance of heritage," Mandel said of Prince Charles, "because we tend to move through that stuff pretty quick and knock it down."

The award honours overall efforts to preserve heritage, rather than specific projects.

Among the elements that earned Edmonton the prize: a municipal cultural plan known as The Art of Living; the Historic Resource Management Plan, with an inventory of more than 600 historic properties; and a new Heritage Council much like the Edmonton Arts Council that will be established by the end of the year.

"That's what's so significant about it," Mandel said. "It's everything we do, from our zoning, our sources of funding, our bylaws, our plans, the things we've done to support different organizations to make sure they retain their older buildings. So it's really a very broad-based award."

Mandel said he was very impressed with his encounter with the prince, now touring Canada.

"I have to say that he was the most engaging individual I've met, almost since I've been mayor," Mandel said. "He was interested, he was warm, he was friendly, he was humorous."

"He talked about things that he was doing in England, how important sustainability is how we need to make our cities more friendly to transit and to bicycles and to people walking. He was just very engaging about the whole issue of sustainable cities."