Miami 21 Wins National Planning Excellence Award

Posted by Julia Klaiber on January 18, 2011

Miami 21, the comprehensive planning blueprint for the City of Miami in the 21st century as envisioned by former Mayor Manny Diaz, received the American Planning Association's 2011 National Planning Excellence Award for Best Practice. The profession’s highest honor recognized the sustainable and efficient development plan for the future for its innovative use of form-based code, a means of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. “This award is a validation of our dream and desire to turn Miami into a walkable, livable city," said Ana Gelabert-Sanchez, Harvard Loeb Fellow 10-11 and former Planning Director for the City of Miami. The blueprint aims to make Miami a “unique, vibrant place to live, learn, work, and play” by incorporating New Urbanism and Smart Growth Principles to address the unprecedented growth in the region in a sustainable manner.

The timing of the award is prescient as CEOs for Cities and Florida International University finalizes preparations for the Miami Brain Trust, a conversation about the future of a city with a long history of reinvention. That conversation will take place February 3 at the brand new Frank Gehry-designed New World Symphony campus.