“A Design that Celebrates the People”: Normal, IL Traffic Circle Wins Smart Growth Award as New Civic Space

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Coleen Gentles

Earlier this month, EPA announced the winners of the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.  We are excited to report that Normal, Illinois is the recipient of the award in the Civic Places category for their traffic roundabout. We’ve written before about how the town’s new traffic circle has successfully managed traffic flow at [...]

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Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza: A Historic Step Toward Urban Excellence

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Coleen Gentles

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence has named the Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza as a 2011 Silver Medal recipient. The Santa Fe Railyard Park and Plaza emerged from a 15-year community effort to shape the form and content of the city’s last major redevelopment area, and is a testament to the power of civic [...]

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Visions of Closing Roads and Creating Parks

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Coleen Gentles

A previous post highlighted a few cities that closed roads through parks to increase pedestrian and non-motorized use. We’ve recently learned about a proposal to temporarily close streets to traffic during weekends and holidays in Buenos Aires and bring in portable playground equipment and benches to turn these roads into parks. A video of this [...]

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Award-Winning Parks Projects From Hollywood to New York

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Ryan Donahue

At first glance, Cahuenga Peak, the backdrop to the Hollywood sign, might seem more like a supporting actor than a bona fide star. But it got its moment in the spotlight last year as The Trust for Public Land helped save it from becoming a luxury housing development. Now it has been named “Best New [...]

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Cahuenga Peak Nominated for “2011 Heart of Green” Award

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Ryan Donahue

The famous Hollywood sign has stood for decades in regal solitude on Cahuenga Peak, gazing out over Los Angeles. When the land surrounding the “H” was threatened by a luxury housing development in 2009, The Trust for Public Land stepped forward to lead the effort to purchase the 138 acres surrounding the iconic letters. The [...]

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EPA Recognizes Outstanding Environmental Organizations in New York

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized 22 of New York’s residents and community organizations for their work in environmental protection with its “Environmental Quality Award.” Among those recognized were a handful of outstanding organizations who work in New York City’s parks and public spaces, including GrowNYC, Brooklyn’s El [...]

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A Smattering of New Great City Parks

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Elissa Hoagland Izmailyan

Each Year, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) recognizes one urban public space with the Amanda Burden Open Space Award, whose generous $10,000 prize rewards the project that has most “enriched and revitalized its surrounding community.” The award’s twelve person jury recently named its six finalists, chosen from a pool of 88 applicants. These included Pittsburgh’s [...]

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Nominate a Great Public Place in Your City

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Ben Welle

The American Planning Association has started a yearly Great Places awards program that gives credit to great neighborhoods and great public spaces. We mentioned the winners last year, that included Pittsburgh’s Mellon Square, New York’s Central Park and Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square. Do you have a park or other public space in mind that should [...]

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