Bruner Loeb forum


brunerfoundation.org The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) discovers and celebrates urban places distinguished by quality design, and by their social, economic, and contextual contributions to the urban environment. These places often transcend the boundaries between architecture, urban design and planning, resulting in innovative solutions to some of our cities’ most intractable problems. Rudy Bruner Award winners are exciting places in their own right. They enliven our nation’s cities and neighborhoods and provide innovative models for placemaking around the country.
The RBA is a biennial award, founded in 1987. The 2003 marks the 9th Rudy Bruner Award cycle. RBA Gold Medal winners receive $50,000 and each of four Silver Medal winners receives $10,000. Selection Committees include mayors of major metropolitan areas, as well as urban experts from around the country. The 2003 Selection Committee includes Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; Gary Hack, Dean, University of Pennsylvania; Maurice Lim Miller, Family Independence Initiative; Gail Thompson, Greater Miami Performing Arts Center; Alicia Berg, Cmsr. of Planning and Development in Chicago; and Kofi Bonner, Vice President of the Cleveland Browns.
Former winners include such outstanding urban places as Post Office Square in Boston, Pike Place Market in Seattle, Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia, Harlem Meer in New York, Project Row Houses in Houston, and many others. Winners and Selection Committee discussions are described in books published by the Bruner Foundation, and distributed to universities and policy makers across the country. In addition to running the Rudy Bruner Award, the Bruner Foundation is currently engaged in a partnership with the Loeb Fellowship Program. The goal of the partnership is to host a series of symposia, showcasing RBA winners and Selection Committee members, and Loeb Fellows and alumnae, in order to advance the thinking on issues pertaining to the urban built environment. Two symposia will be offered each year—one in Cambridge, and one in a different part of the country. The theme for 2002-2003 is Transforming Community Through the Arts.