The American Planning Association Sustainable Communities Division Announces the Winners of the 11th Annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability

The American Planning Association’s Sustainable Communities Division (APA SCD) announced the winners of the 11th Annual Awards for Excellence in Sustainability at the 2024 National Planning Conference in Minneapolis. The awards honor projects, plans, policies, individuals, and organizations whose work is dedicated to supporting sustainable communities.

The winners represent extraordinary achievements in six sustainable planning categories. The categories and winners are:

• State or Regional Award:General Plan Update, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (State of Hawaiʻi)
• Community-wide Award: Community Climate Action Plan Implementation, City of Raleigh Office of Sustainability (Raleigh, North Carolina)
• Environment, Climate, & Energy Award: Climate Action Plan, City of Baltimore Department of Planning (Baltimore, Maryland)
• Quality of Life Award: Active Aging Pilot, City of Santa Monica (Santa Monica, California)
• Policy, Law, or Tool Award: Redevelopment Ready Communities Resiliency Toolkit, SmithGroup & Michigan Economic Development Corporation (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
• Student Award: Michigan Renewable Energy Development Initiative (MI REDI), University of Michigan SEAS Capstone Team (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

The jury also selected a nomination to receive a Merit Award in the Community-wide Award category:

• Community-wide Merit Award: Climate Action Plan, City of La Crosse (La Crosse, Wisconsin)

About the American Planning Association (APA): APA is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. APA includes a professional institute for certified planners, 48 chapters, 25 divisions, and special memberships for students. Find out more about APA at https://www.planning.org.

About the APA Sustainable Communities Division:The Sustainable Communities Division (SCD) provides resources, information, and best practices to support planners in creating sustainable, resilient, and equitable communities. Through its forums for dialogue, collaboration, advocacy, and professional development, the SCD engages planners in innovatively addressing the evolving ecological, social, and economic factors that shape our communities.More about the Division can be found at apascd.com and planning.org/divisions/sustainable/.