Excellence in Sustainability Awards
Annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability
The Awards for Excellence in Sustainability is an annual program that honors projects, plans, policies, individuals, and organizations dedicated to supporting sustainable communities. Each year, the award winners are announced during the annual National Planning Conference.
The APA Sustainable Communities Division announced the winners of the sixth annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability on April 14, 2019, at the 2019 National Planning Conference in San Francisco. The winners represent extraordinary achievements in six Sustainable Planning categories.
2019 Winners
Community Sustainability or Resilience Plan
Cleveland Climate Action Plan: Building Thriving and Resilient Neighborhoods for All
City of Cleveland, Mayor's Office of Sustainability, 2018 (Cleveland, Ohio)
Sustainable Urban Design Plan or Development Project
Breathe Easy: Millvale Air Quality Planning
evolve environment::architecture (Millvale, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania)
Sustainable Park, Recreation, or Open Space Plan or Project
Los Angeles County Master Plan for Sustainable Parks and Recreation: Phase I
Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation (County of Los Angeles, California)
Sustainable Green Infrastructure Plan or Project
Envision Shooks Run
City of Colorado Springs and Felsburg Holt & Ullevig (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Sustainable Policy, Law, or Tool
Building a Better Norfolk: A Zoning Ordinance for the 21st Century
City of Norfolk (Norfolk, Virginia)
Leadership in Sustainability
Center for Communities by Design, American Institute of Architects
Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) Program (Washington, DC)
Please join us in congratulating these award winners for their achievements! If you are interested in potentially submitting a nomination in the future, please subscribe to the SCD e-Bulletin for updates.
Previous Winners
2018 Winners
Community Sustainability or Resilience Plan
City of Hermosa Beach, PLAN Hermosa — The City of Hermosa Beach's Integrated General Plan and Local Coastal Program
City of Hermosa Beach, California
State or Regional Sustainability or Resilience Plan
Thurston Regional Planning Council, Thurston Climate Adaptation Plan: Climate Resilience Actions for Thurston County and South Puget Sound
Olympia, Washington
Sustainable Policy, Law, or Tool
San Francisco Planning Department & San Francisco Department of the Environment, Better Roofs Ordinance
San Francisco
Sustainable Urban Design Plan or Development Project
City of Meriden, Meriden 2020: A Comprehensive Plan for Downtown Meriden
Meriden, Connecticut
Sustainable Park, Recreation, or Open Space Project
City of Miramar, Miramar Fruit & Vegetable Garden
Miramar, Florida
Sustainable Transportation Project
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Metro Expo Line Phase 2
Los Angeles County, California
Sustainable Green Infrastructure Project
Capital Region Water, Community Greening Plan: A Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan for Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Leadership in Sustainability
Environmental Compliance & Sustainability Department, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles County, California
2017 Winners
Sustainability or Resilience Plan or Project
Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot Plan — evolveEA
Millvale, Pennsylvania
Sustainable Urban Design Plan or Development Project
South Central Waterfront Vision Framework Plan — City of Austin Planning and Zoning Department Urban Design Division
Austin, Texas
Sustainable Transportation Project
Kansas City Downtown Streetcar — HDR
Kansas City, Missouri
Sustainable Park, Recreation, or Open Space Project
Lindsay Street Park — The Conservation Fund
Atlanta, Georgia
Leadership in Sustainability
Maryland Sustainable Communities Program — Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Division of Neighborhood Revitalization
Baltimore, Maryland
2016 Winners
Sustainable Building Project Award
Buenos Aires City Government, New Government House
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sustainable Park, Recreation, or Open Space Project Award
Amigos de los Rios, Emerald Necklace Plan Phase 2
Los Angeles, California United States
Sustainable Policy, Law or Plan Award
Measuring the Sustainability Performance of New Development in Brampton, Richmond Hill, and Vaughn
Cities of Brampton, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Sustainable Development Project
Denver Regional Transit District, Denver Union Station
Denver Colorado, United States
Green Infrastructure or Transportation Project
City of Tualatin/Cardno, Tualatin River Greenway Shared Use Path
Tualatin, Oregon, United States
Sustainable Urban Design, or Preservation Plan or Project
City of Alexandria/Smith GroupJJR, Eisenhower West
Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Leadership in Sustainability
Sustainable Jersey
New Jersey, United States
2015 Winners
Emerging Leaders' Sustainable Plan or Project Award
Urban and Economic Transformation of Residential Areas Case Studies: Queens, New York City and Donja Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia author: Andrea Maria Jandricek, University of Zagreb. Academic Advisers for the thesis included: Prof. Nenad Lipovac and Prof. Ljubomir Miščević from the Faculty of Architecture; Prof. Ljubo Jurčić and Prof. Josip Tica of the Faculty of Economics and Business; and Prof. Emeritus Gary Hack of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania and Prof. Yu-Hung Hong of MIT as independent consultants.
Green Infrastructure Project Award
Pendleton Multi-Way Boulevard and Green Infrastructure Project; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Cascade Design Collaborative
Leadership in Sustainability Award
City of Austin Neighborhood Partnering Program; Austin, Texas. City of Austin
Sustainable Parks, Recreation and Open Space Project Award
Crystal Springs Creek Habitat Restoration Project; Portland Oregon. City of Portland - Bureau of Environmental Services
Sustainable Building Project Award
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Brock Environmental Center, Annapolis Maryland. Smith Group JJR
Sustainable Development Project Award
Devens Sustainable Housing Pilot Project; Devens, Massachusetts. MassDevelopment Finance Agency
Sustainable Law, Policy or Plan Award
Mid-South Regional Greenprint and Sustainability Plan; Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis and Shelby County
Sustainable Urban Design or Preservation Plan or Project Award
Scotts Run South Master Plan; Tysons Corner, Virginia. Steve Hahn, Smith Group JJR
2014 Winners
Sustainable Development Project
City of Lakewood, Colorado, for the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program + Network
Sustainable Building Project
Lemle & Wolff, Inc. in partnership with Design AIDD Architecture, Di Bari Engineering + The Daylight Savings Company for 812 E. 231ST Street, Bronx, NY
Sustainable Parks, Recreation + Open Space Project
21st Century Parks in partnership with Metro Parks, Future Fund Land Trust + Wallace, Roberts and Todd for The Parklands of Floyds Fork, Louisville Kentucky
Green Infrastructure Project
Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority in partnership with the City of Camden, Camden Redevelopment Agency, Heart of Camden + Center for Environmental Transformation for the Waterfront South Rain Gardens, Camden, New Jersey
Sustainable Plan Award
City of Austin, Texas, in partnership with Wallace, Roberts and Todd for Imagine Austin
Emerging Leaders' Sustainable Plan Award
University of Michigan — Yohan Chang, Ashlee Grace, Diego Horna Munoz, Katie Knapp, Megan McPhilimiy, Christian Rodman, Katy Ryan and Katie Wholey; students under the advisement of Larissa Larsen and Eric Dueweke for the Revising Toledo's Stormwater Credits Program.