AMES, Iowa -- The Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program has been named the 2005 Outstanding Program by the Iowa Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). The award was presented at the association's fall conference in Des Moines Oct. 20.
The visioning program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist leaders and volunteers in Iowa's small communities in making sound and meaningful decisions about the local landscape. Julia Badenhope, associate professor of landscape architecture at Iowa State University, developed the program.
Since 1996, 113 Iowa communities have participated in the visioning program, which is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with ISU Extension Landscape Architecture and Trees Forever, an Iowa-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. In addition, professional landscape architects offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities.
The Iowa APA award recognizes projects, programs or tools that significantly advance specific elements of planning, particularly in terms of implementation and results. The visioning program was honored for its success as a public/private partnership that fosters greater participation in community planning, emphasizes results and demonstrates the implementation of a plan.
The APA is a nonprofit public interest and research organization committed to urban, suburban, regional and rural planning.