The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) announces five finalists for its 2017 Gold and Silver medal prizes. The Gold Medalist will receive $50,000 and four Silver Medalists will each receive $10,000 to enhance their projects. Celebrating more than 30 years of urban excellence, RBA is a biennial design award recognizing transformative places that contribute to the economic, environmental, and social vitality of American cities. Seventy-eight projects in 27 states have been honored since its founding.
The 2019 RBA finalists
Beyond Walls— Lynn, MA
Grassroots public art and lighting initiative revitalizing a former industrial city.
(Submitted by Beyond Walls)

Buffalo Bayou Park—Houston, TX
Enhancement of a historic waterway into a resilient public greenspace.
(Submitted by SWA Group)

Crosstown Concourse—Memphis, TN
Rehabilitation of an abandoned Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center into a mixed-use vertical village and arts, education, and healthcare destination.
(Submitted by Crosstown Arts)

Parisite Skatepark—New Orleans, Louisiana
Youth-driven DIY creation of a new public park on vacant land beneath a highway.
(Submitted by Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, and Tulane School of Architecture’s Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design)

Sulphur Springs Downtown—Sulphur Springs, TX
Renewal of a rural, small-town civic plaza and main street.
(Submitted by Toole Design Group)

RBA entries comprise completed projects across the contiguous United States. Finalists and medalists are chosen by a nationwide committee of urban experts through an in-depth evaluation process involving input from the award application, site visits, interviews with project participants and community members, and committee discussions.