AIA California’s Urban Design Awards recognizes excellence in the creation, improvement, and sustainability of our physical environment by Architects and Landscape Architects. Sustainability, as applied to this category of Design Awards, can include reduction of reliance on the automobile, encouraged transit-oriented development, promoted district-wide energy and water management, and fostered biodiversity and cultural resilience.
Urban Design is defined for the Awards Program as “the realm of physical design encompassing master planning, landscape architecture, and conceptual architectural design.” This definition includes research and the design of spaces at all scales, from places between buildings to regional master plans. The program focuses on conception and expression of the idea following through to the many phases of a master plan.
The Urban Design Jury will look at a wide spectrum of design and work in the following areas:
Have a question about your eligibility or the submission process? View our most frequently asked questions or email Amanda Nye anye@aiacalifornia.org.
The 2022 AIA California Urban Design Awards program recognizes excellence in design, planning and community development. Outstanding solutions in the architecture and landscape architecture of urban design not only incorporate aspects of the built environment, but also of culture, nature, climate, mobility, resilience, and equity. Urban design demands exploration and modeling of our future communities within our emerging smart technology society. Interdisciplinary frameworks are needed for urban design to offer innovative design approaches for livability in the public realm. It is particularly imperative in 2022 for urban design to generate ideas for sustainable and resilient environments in our future, to be made by humans in concert with nature.
Nathan Ogle, AIA
Chair, Urban Design Committee
Stephanie Reich, AIA
Design & Historic Preservation Planner
City of Santa Monica
Frank Fuller, FAIA
Principal
Urban Field Studio
Hessam Vakili, AIA
Director of Design & Development
TAIT & Associates, Inc.
Stephanie Landregan, FASLA
Program Director
UCLA Extension Landscape Architecture
Mia Lehrer, FASLA
President
Studio-MLA
Katherine Spitz, AIA ASLA
Principal
Katherine Spitz Associates, Inc
American Institute of Architects California
1931 H Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 448-9082
Contact Us »
Celebrating over 75 years of service, the AIA California actively promotes the value of design and advocates for the architectural profession. AIA CA is an association of 11,000 dedicated and passionate members who share a commitment to design excellence and livability in California’s natural and built environments.
New in 2023. In addition to the 5 hours of learning in disability access, all California architects are now required to receive 5 hours of learning in Zero Net Carbon Design (ZNCD). To help meet these additional mandatory continuing education licensure requirements, AIA California is offering a variety of on-demand ZNCD courses through our partner aecKnowledge. These courses are presented free of charge as part of AIA California’s mission of helping design professionals reduce our carbon footprint. Click here to proceed to these on-demand courses.