The 12 projects receiving 2018 National Urban Design Awards reflect a range of ideas about reclaiming and enhancing public space while addressing challenges such as urban density, environmental sustainability, and affordability.
The winners include an urban design plan for Toronto that seeks to establish sufficient parks and open space to support a doubling of the downtown population. In Montreal, new way-finding aims to make the city?s mountain more accessible. Old Quebec City has replaced a parking lot with a waterfront park, while lanes in Vancouver have become places of social activity.
Other projects include a bee centre in Charlottetown, a proposal for outdoor spaces made of snow in Edmonton and fixing a ?spaghetti junction? in the Toronto district of Etobicoke. The National Urban Design Awards is a biennial Canadian awards program established by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in 2006. The program showcases excellence in urban design, raises public awareness of the role of urban design in sustainability and quality of life in Canadian cities, and recognizes the contributions of individuals, organizations, firms, and projects.
The awards are part of a two-tier program held in cooperation with Canadian municipalities, in which the National Urban Design Awards jury evaluates winners of the 2017 municipal awards and entries submitted at large.
The 2018 jury members are:

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