Projects in nine cities receive National Urban Design Awards reflecting “remarkable urban design initiatives” Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer Nine cities across Canada “have been enriched by the addition of remarkable urban design initiatives,” says the jury of the 2016 National Urban Design Awards, co-ordi- nated by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CLSA). “The quality of the submissions this year was impres- sive,” the three -member jury said in a statement. “These unique solutions displayed a refreshing inventiveness and a strong commitment to the overarching objective of urban design to respond to and enhance the immediate sur- roundings and wider community.” The winning projects range from urban infill to renewed public spaces and playful installations. The awards are part of a two-tier program held in co- operation with Canadian municipalities. The National Urban Design Awards program judged winners of the 2015 mu- nicipal awards and entries submitted at large. The awards will be presented during the RAIC’s Festival of Architecture in Nanaimo from June 8 to11. Community initiatives The Bench Project (Calgary, AB) Developers: anonymous Designers: anonymous “This project offers a new and vibrant interpretation of this basic piece of public furniture and cuts directly to what community initiated urban design should be.” Student projects Award winners include: Civic design projects Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization (Toronto, ON) PLANT Architect Inc. | Perkins + Will Canada in Joint Venture, with Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architecture and Adrian Blackwell Urban Projects “…a successful revitalization of a civic heart that draws people in with an enduring, timeless, restrained intervention.” 12 – May-June 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report Impose (Edmonton, AB) Brad Comis, Sebastian Sauve-Hoover, Danielle Soneff of Threshold Art and Design working with Jesse Sherburne “...evokes thoughts of human habitat and urban wildlife while making a connection to the built fabric.” Regenerating Rossdale (Edmonton, AB) Michael Zabinski, designer “…a thought provoking reclamation of an artifact of a previously polluting industry. It is a powerful statement of urban renewal.”