Sasaki Associates Selected for 2012 National Planning Firm Award

Sasaki Associates, Inc., a firm built upon a rich foundation of excellence, innovation, and collaboration, will receive the 2012 American Planning Association’s National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Firm. Sasaki is being recognized for the enduring high quality of their project work and for their leadership in charting the future of planning, including a significant commitment to sustainable design practices.

The award recognizes a firm for its body of distinguished work influencing the planning profession. APA’s national awards program, the profession’s highest honor, is a proud tradition established more than 50 years ago to recognize outstanding community plans, planning programs and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their leadership on planning issues.

“Sasaki Associates was a pioneer in creating a collaborative practice that brings together planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects, interior designers, and engineers to achieve extraordinary results,” said Marie L. York, FAICP, APA Board Director and 2012 Awards Jury Co-Chair. “The firm continues to evolve to solve complex problems and improve the quality of life.”

Sasaki’s work endures the volatility of time with inspiring planning and urban design frameworks that strike a balance between context, culture, and invention. Sasaki’s plans also address sustainability in regard to economics, social context, and the environment—and the firm’s global experience gives them the ability to do this work at all scales and in a variety of contexts. Examples of Sasaki’s diverse portfolio include the on-going “Tomorrow Plan,” a HUD-funded effort to develop a regional plan for sustainable development in Central Iowa; the "One Ohio State" Framework Plan for The Ohio State University; and the design of the master plan for the main site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“We are honored to be recognized with the 2012 National Planning Excellence Award from the American Planning Association,” said James Miner, AICP, a managing principal at Sasaki Associates. “While the award is a testament to Sasaki’s long and storied history, the award also recognizes our leading role in shaping the future of the discipline of planning through our ideas and use of innovative technologies and our approach to helping clients make smart, long-term decisions that result in greater value in their markets.”

Sasaki’s ongoing and completed projects across the country include the Brighton / Guest Street Planning Study with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) in Mass.; a Parks Master Plan in Bridgeport, Conn.; the Providence 2020 Master Plan in Rhode Island; the Buffalo Riverbend Site Development Plan in Upstate New York; the Greater Hill District Master Plan in Pittsburgh, PA; the rehabilitation of the Lincoln Memorial Landscape and Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, DC; the "Penn Connects" Development Plan at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; ongoing strategic master planning services for the University System of Georgia;  theCharleston Waterfront Park in South Carolina; and continuing work with the Reston Town Center in Virginia.

Other recent Sasaki awards include a 2012 National AIA Honor Award in Urban Design for the Jordan Dead Sea Vision Plan, a project that involves a comprehensive strategy for 40 square kilometers around the north eastern edge of the Dead Sea – outlining a dynamic, robust, and sustainable plan for growth and evolution of the region. The firm has received more than 500 awards from planning and design organizations, including the 2011 APA National Planning Excellence Award for Best Practices in Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Planning for Cedar Rapids’ River Corridor Redevelopment Plan, a 2011 ULI Award of Excellence for the Euclid Avenue HealthLine BRT Projectin Cleveland, the 2011 SCUP Honor Award for Excellence in Planning for the Master Plan for the newSingapore University of Technology and Design, and the 2007 ASLA Firm Award.

Sasaki Associates will receive its award at a special luncheon on April 16, 2012, during APA’s National Planning Conference in Los Angeles. The firm will also be featured in an upcoming issue ofPlanning magazine, APA’s flagship publication.  To view all of the APA 2012 National Planning Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership Award recipients, visit www.planning.org/awards/2012.

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The American Planning Association is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning -- physical, economic and social -- so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Ill. For more information, visit www.planning.org.

Sasaki (www.sasaki.com) is an integrated design and planning firm committed to realizing thoughtful, sustainable solutions to our clients’ unique problems. Drawing on the collaboration and diversity of ideas that defines our inter-disciplinary firm, our teams take a personal approach to creating award-winning spaces and places for our institutional, civic and commercial clients. Sasaki is a mid-sized firm of 200 professionals working throughout the United States and internationally from our office in Boston.