July 2007 Summary

RDG Honored with Landscape Architectural Design Award

APA Honors for Implementation of Shenandoah Magic Plan

RDG Honored with Landscape Architectural Design Award

RDG Planning & Design recently received an award from the Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for their involvement with Green Streets for Omaha Plan. The Green Streets project received an Honor award in the Planning category, the highest award in that category. Representatives for RDG were recognized at the Iowa ASLA Awards Spring Conference on April 5th, 2007, at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. "This program acknowledges excellence in Landscape Architectural planning that lead to, guide or evaluate landscape architectural design," describes Dolores Silkworth, ASLA.

"Streets make up the largest single category of public space in Omaha. Our streets take up more land than all of Omaha’s parks, trails, schools, college campuses, and public buildings and other facilities combined," explains Marty Shukert, FAICP. "For most of us, our primary contact with the outside public realm is on streets, as drivers and, to a lesser degree, as pedestrians and bicyclists. Streets are the real front doors to our houses in neighborhoods, as well as our paths to work or play," adds Cory Scott, AICP.

"The plan recognizing the importance of street design to the overall character of the city, and recommends creation of a Green Streets Master Plan to delineate streets that should be subject to special street land-scaping planting and maintenance requirements,"says Silkworth. "The master plan respects the primary function of streets as transportation routes, but recognizes that streets are far more than corridors for automobile traffic. The plan incorporates other forms of transportation with on street bike lanes and multi-use trails, it promotes the civic function of streets as attractive spaces for public interaction, and recognizes the value of trees and other plants in the right of way as part of urban ecosystems. These plants are given the needed space and attention to provide shade and serve as the lungs of the city."

Jury Comments:
"Excellent at focusing on corridors in relationship to use and need."
"Excellent graphics and concepts."
"Succinct message and purpose."
"Outstanding deliverable in booklet form."

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APA Honors for Implementation of Shenandoah Magic Plan

OMAHA, Nebraska—A revitalization plan for Shenandoah, Iowa—a community of 5,500—won the Iowa American Planning Association's 2006 Outstanding Planning Award for Implementation. RDG Planning & Design, the Omaha- and Des Moines-based firm that developed the Shenandoah Magic Plan, accepted the award on November 2 at the 2006 Planning Conference for the Iowa Chapter of the American Planning Association in Iowa City.

"The public and private market responses to Shenandoah Magic have been tremendous in the five years since its completion. The implementation of the Shenandoah Plan has indeed restored magic to a great and distinctive community,"said Marty Shukert, RDG's principal planner of the Shenandoah project.
Projects are judged on their long-term, measurable results to demonstrate that sustained implementation makes a difference, explains RDG planner Gary Lozano. "The Shenandoah Magic Plan combined a rigorous economic and market-based approach with a sense of understanding and emotional connection to the heart of the community. The plan examined the local and regional roles of the city's retail market environment, using potential markets as a base for both design and policy issues" explains Cory Scott, a planner with RDG.

RDG Planning & Design offers professional services in architecture, landscape architecture, interior and lighting design, strategic planning, urban and comprehensive planning, and graphic design. RDG and its predecessor companies have been serving clients since 1965. The firm currently has active projects in more than 25 states.

APA is a non-profit public interest and research organization committed to urban, suburban, regional, and rural planning.

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