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News

Find the latest news about Buffalo Bayou Partnership and all the doings along Buffalo Bayou.

Feb 14

Buffalo Bayou Park is one of five finalists for the 2019 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence

Photo by Jonnu Singleton/SWA Group

Buffalo Bayou Partnership is excited to announce that Buffalo Bayou Park has been selected as a finalist for the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) 2019 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. BBP extends our congratulations to the park designers and consultants as well as our sincerest thanks to the Kinder Foundation for its catalyst gift and to all of the generous funders that made Buffalo Bayou Park possible. Special thanks also to the Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #3 that provides BBP with annual funding for the park’s operations and maintenance.

For more than 30 years, the biennial RBA has recognized 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 are:

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, LA
Youth-driven DIY creation of a new public park on vacant land beneath a highway overpass. (Submitted by Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund)

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. The 2019 Selection Committee includes:

Libby Schaaf—Mayor, City of Oakland, CA
Adrian Benepe—Senior Vice President and Director of National Programs at the Trust for Public Land, New York, NY
Brenda Breaux—Executive Director for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), New Orleans, LA
Carol Coletta—President and CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership, Memphis, TN
Marc Norman—Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Michigan, Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ann Arbor, MI
Carol Ross Barney, FAIA—Principal Designer, Ross Barney Architects, Chicago, IL

Next month, RBA staff will begin site visits to each finalist project in preparation for the committee’s selection of the medal winners in June. Metropolis magazine will tell the stories of each of these sites through a series of online features. Findings and lessons learned will be relayed through detailed case studies and published in book form in 2020 as a resource for educators, practitioners, and students. Past case studies are available here.

“The range of issues addressed in this year’s submissions reflect the evolution of our understanding of placemaking in cities,” says RBA Founder Simeon Bruner. “The five finalists illustrate the shifting role of design in response to the imperatives of social inclusivity and environmental resilience.”

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) was created in 1986 by Simeon Bruner, founding principal of Bruner/Cott Architects and Planners (Cambridge, MA), and is a program of the Bruner Foundation. The RBA was named in honor of founder Simeon Bruner’s late father, who established the Foundation in 1963 with his mother, Martha. The Bruner Foundation is renowned for its pioneering approach to social issues including health care, education, evaluation, and the built environment.

For press inquiries, email Karen Farber, BBP VP of External Affairs, or call 713.752.0314 ext. 353.

News Coverage

  • 15 Major Developments Headed for Houston in 2023 and Beyond Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2023
  • Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern Offers Inspiration and Reflection Beneath Houston Texas Highways Magazine, January 24, 2023
  • 36 Hours in Houston: Things to Do and See The New York Times, January 19, 2023
  • 11 Things You Must Do at Houston's Buffalo Bayou Park Chron.com, January 14, 2023
  • Rising in Houston: Projects to Look Forward to in 2023 and Beyond Greater Houston Partnership, January 4, 2023
  • Year in Review: Kinder Foundation Giving $100 Million to Buffalo Bayou Project was a Deal of the Week Houston Business Journal, December 22, 2022
  • Texas 100 List: Influential Professionals to Watch in 2023 Houston Business Journal, December 21, 2022
  • Top Exhibits in Houston This Month: December 2022 365 Things to Do, December 8, 2022
  • Listen: Buffalo Bayou East will transform East End. Why affordable housing is the first step. Looped In Podcast, December 1, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou East breaks ground with affordable housing project Houston Chronicle, December 1, 2022
more

Press Releases

  • Buffalo Bayou Partnership Announces Kinder Foundation’s $100M Catalyst Gift to Accelerate Buffalo Bayou East Master Plan September 26, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou Partnership Unveils New Cleanup Boat August 3, 2022
  • East Downtown Trail Opens to the Public June 14, 2022
  • Light Up the Night Along Buffalo Bayou East March 15, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s Time No Longer Wins International Art Award September 22, 2021
  • Three Houston Parks Team Up to Celebrate the Legacy of Jazz in Houston with Free Concerts and a Series Spectacular Featuring Mavis Staples August 6, 2021
  • Houston Endowment Awards Buffalo Bayou Partnership $10M Grant December 9, 2020
  • Immersive Installation by Anri Sala in the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern November 23, 2020
  • Houston Celebrates Texas Arbor Day by planting 600 trees at Buffalo Bend Nature Center November 10, 2020
  • Carmen Herrera: Estructuras Monumentales (En Español) September 28, 2020
more

Monthly Newsletters

  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - January 2023 January 12, 2023
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - December 2022 December 1, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - November 2022 November 4, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - October 2022 October 6, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - September 2022 August 31, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - August 2022 August 4, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - July 2022 July 1, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - June 2022 June 2, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - May 2022 May 4, 2022
  • Buffalo Bayou eNewsletter - April 2022 April 6, 2022
more

Banking on Buffalo Bayou

  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Summer 2021 June 2021
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Winter 2020 January 2020
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Spring 2019 May 2019
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Winter 2019 January 2019
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Summer 2018 July 2018
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Summer 2017 August 2017
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Spring 2017 March 2017
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Winter 2016 December 2016
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Summer 2016 July 2016
  • Banking on Buffalo Bayou - Spring 2016 March 2016
more

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