Photo courtesy Dub Architects Ltd.

The City Market affordable housing project, designed by Dub Architects Ltd., received one of the 2007 Edmonton Urban Design Awards.

Nominations for the 2009 Edmonton Urban Design Awards opened last week, giving architects, engineers, planners, landscape architects, and artists a chance to be recognized for beautifying the City of Champions.

This year's jury includes Montreal architect Dan Hanganu (2008 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada [RAIC] Gold Medallist) and Calgary-born architect, Douglas Cardinal. Cardinal, named to the Order of Canada, is responsible for projects across the country, including the Regina campus of the First Nations University of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., and the Edmonton Space and Science Centre (now the Telus World of Science).

Photos courtesy David Murray Architect and Stantec Architecture Ltd., respectively

During the last round of the Edmonton Urban Design Awards, both Bergstrom Block (top, David Murray Architect) and Enterprise Square (bottom, Stantec Architecture Ltd.) received honours. Contenders for this year's prize have until October to submit their nominations.

Awards will be handed out in six categories:
• unimplemented urban design plans;
• implemented urban design plans;
• urban architecture;
• civic design projects;
• urban fragments; and
• community improvement projects.

"Good urban design is an essential ingredient for creating people-friendly places and improving the overall quality of life," Dnyanesh Deshpande, ACP, MCIP, told Construction Canada Online. Deshpande is the principal urban designer and the awards chair for the municipal government.

"The City of Edmonton is committed to improve the quality of urban design in the city by recognizing the efforts of all stakeholders in the process of city-building," he explained.

The biennial awards have been held since 2005—the year Edmonton's mayor, Stephen Mandel, infamously declared his city's "tolerance for crap must be zero" when discussing the future of urban architectural design.

The awards, given by the City of Edmonton, are held in partnership with RAIC's Alberta Chapter; winners become eligible for the RAIC Urban Design Awards in 2010. The Edmonton awards program is conducted in consultation with the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects (AALA), the Edmonton Design Committee (EDC), and the Canada Institute of Planners' Alberta Association (AACIP).

The nomination package can be viewed online. The deadline is October 8, with winners announced in November.