A plan to steer northeast Ohio toward sustainable growth won a top planning award this week, joining schemes and firms from Austin to Los Angeles on a list of the year’s best urban planning work.
The American Planning Association on Tuesday awarded its 2015 National Planning Awards, naming 17 firms, plans, and individuals worthy of an “excellence award,” and another 12 to their list of “achievement” award winners.
View the full list on this page below, or on the APA’s website.
The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium took home the top prize for Vibrant NEO 2040—a plan to “do things differently” in the region, which has exemplified the planning perils of deindustrialization, depopulation and the cascading after-effects of those broader trends on a local level. Vibrant NEO is the first regional plan ever implemented in northeast Ohio, which comprises five planning groups across Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown.
2015 National Planning Excellence Recipients
Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan
- Vibrant NEO 2040 – Northeast Ohio
The HUD Secretary’s Opportunity & Empowerment Award
- Mueller Redevelopment – Austin, Texas
National Planning Excellence Award for a Best Practice
- First Last Mile Strategic Plan & Planning Guidelines – Los Angeles, California
National Planning Excellence Award for Public Outreach
- Making Planning Public: Newark Zoning Workshop – Newark, New Jersey
National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation
- Green City, Clean Waters: Philadelphia’s 21st Century Green Stormwater Infrastructure Program – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
National Planning Excellence Award for a Communications Initiative
- Boston Complete Streets Design Guidelines – Boston, Massachusetts
National Planning Excellence Award for Transportation Planning
- moveDC – Washington, D.C.
National Planning Excellence Award for Environmental Planning
- Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan – Louisiana
National Planning Excellence Award for Economic Planning & Development
- Phase 1 Glenwood Refinement Plan – Springfield, Oregon
National Planning Excellence Award for Urban Design
- The BIG U – New York, New York
The Pierre L’Enfant International Planning Excellence Award
- Tecnológico de Monterrey Urban Regeneration Plan – Monterrey, Mexico
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Advocate
- Honorable Greg Cox – San Diego, California
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Agency
- Maryland Department of Planning – Baltimore, Maryland
National Planning Excellence Award for an Emerging Planning & Design Firm
- Raimi + Associates – California
National Planning Excellence Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change (in Honor of Paul Davidoff)
- State Representative Harold Mitchell, Jr. and the ReGenesis Project – Spartanburg, South Carolina
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Pioneer
- Donald Shoup, FAICP, PhD – Los Angeles, California
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Firm
- Perkins+Will — San Francisco, California
2015 National Planning Achievement Recipients
The Achievement Awards are a way for the awards jury to recognize good planning work and are similar to an honorable mention.
National Planning Achievement Award for a Best Practice
- Realizing the Potential of The Porch: A Case Study in Data-Driven Placemaking – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
National Planning Achievement Award for Economic Planning & Development
- Maryland State Arts Council – Arts & Entertainment Districts Program – Baltimore, Maryland
National Planning Achievement Award for Environmental Planning
- Living Breakwaters – New York, New York
Lake Tahoe Sustainability Action Plan – California and Nevada
National Planning Achievement Award for Implementation
- Branch Brook Park – Newark, New Jersey
National Planning Achievement Award for a Grassroots Initiative
- Opa-locka Community Development Corporation/Gold Coast Section Pop-Up Park Initiative – Miami-Dade County, Florida
National Planning Achievement Award for Public Outreach
- Pop-Up Outreach for the Southeastern San Diego and Encanto Neighborhoods Community Plans – San Diego, California
National Planning Achievement Award for Transportation Planning
- WalkBikeNC – North Carolina
National Planning Achievement Award for Urban Design
- Tongva Park & Ken Genser Square – Santa Monica, California
- Greening Lower Grand Avenue – Phoenix, Arizona
The Pierre L’Enfant International Planning Achievement Award
- West End Community Plan – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Les Isles/ Domtar Lands Redevelopment – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
