2024 Recipients

For a comprehensive or general plan that advances the science and art of planning. 

City Plan – Vision 2045 innovates comprehensive planning for more conservative communities, advancing meaningful planning work while acknowledging Amarillo's hesitancy for land use regulation. Experiencing typical suburban growth along affluent edges as the older core declined, planning has not been viewed as a solution to community challenges arising from these growth patterns. An inclusive process was required to recast planning as a roadmap for positive change and actively address concerns over the plan's potential impact on property owner rights. Ultimately, it evolved into a community-supported guide that strongly emphasizes a voluntary approach to improving Amarillo.

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This award honors an individual, project, group, or organization that promotes diversity and involves historic underrepresented groups, positively impacts the quality of life for low- or moderate-income individuals, and/or addresses structural inequities within a community through specific actions or contributions within the planning profession or through planning practice.  

CapMetro, in partnership with the City of Austin, spearheaded the ETOD Study to integrate future transportation investments with tools and policies focused on community preservation and economic access. This groundbreaking project emphasizes equity, prioritizes underrepresented voices, and aligns transit and housing strategies across multiple agencies. It represents a unique opportunity to implement significant infrastructure policies. The study developed an equity-based ETOD Priority Tool to align policy and investment for the entire Project Connect system. The ETOD Final Report established the foundation for the ETOD Policy Plan, a citywide guide ensuring future transit development supports residents of all incomes and backgrounds. Accepted by Austin City Council in March 2023, the Plan led to the successful ETOD Overlay code amendment in May 2024. This amendment restricts non-transit-supportive land uses and permits increased height for existing multifamily and commercial properties in exchange for affordable housing, promoting a more inclusive and accessible urban environment.
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The Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center ("Rio Vista"), a recently designated 11.1-acre National Historic Landmark made up of 24 contributing buildings, is nationally and internationally significant for its association with the Mexican Farm Labor Program of 1951- 64, also known as the Bracero Program. The Bracero Program was a binational temporary guest worker program administered by the US and Mexico, which deployed Braceros to fulfill agricultural contracts across thirty-eight states after arriving from Mexico at US Reception Centers. By 1959, Braceros comprised nearly a quarter of US agricultural workers, greatly enhancing the profitability of the US agribusiness labor, providing a steady and reliable supply of highly skilled farmworkers, and broadly influencing US Latino populations, particularly in states from Texas westward. As the only standing reception center in the US, Rio Vista tells the untold story of Braceros and the millions of Mexican Americans who trace their lineage to this very site.

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This award honors an individual, appointed, or elected official who has advanced or promoted the cause of planning in the public arena. 

Determined to relieve displacement pressures on low- and moderate-income families and restore housing opportunities amid Austin’s growing housing crisis and economic divide, Leslie Pool, Austin’s Mayor Pro Tem, championed a planning initiative to create more starter homes and denser urban neighborhoods to give Austin families a fighting chance.

With housing limited by an outdated land development code, Leslie Pool and her District 7 team built a coalition of the public and private sector planning professionals needed to effect change. The coalition and community groups crafted HOME (Home Options for Mobility and Equity). The plan offered more housing types and smaller lot options for a denser, more walkable and resilient city.

Her initiative included a robust information campaign, with a dedicated website, panel events, as well as media and community outreach to educate the public on the importance of community participation in the planning aspects and implementation of HOME.