The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Cal Poly Pomona is seeking nominations for the 2015 William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning. The Dale Prize recognizes planning excellence, creates dialogue between scholars and practitioners, and enriches the education of planning students. The Dale Prize is awarded in pairs: a $5,000 award to a scholar and a $5,000 award to a practitioner. Awardees spend two days on the campus, meet with students in classes, and participate in a colloquium and other events.

The 2015 theme is Streets for Everyone: Advancing Active Transportation. Today’s planners are challenged to make streets that support active transportation. The embrace requires herculean arms to reach around many concerns: human scale, sense of community, accessibility, linking modes of travel, and last-mile transportation. It requires consideration of the interrelationships among environment, land use, urban design, community development, public health, and physical infrastructure. In many communities, planners ride a wave of grassroots support for active transportation, but they may face a pro-car backlash against bike lanes and road diets. Their efforts seek to support everyday active transportation, provide safe routes to school, and facilitate localized living. Considering all these factors, how are planning researchers and practitioners expanding their reach to rise to these challenges? What should be done in this rapidly changing milieu of on-the-ground conditions, technology and preferences?

We are seeking a Dale Prize Scholar who can share research on methods and processes for making streets for everyone.

 We are seeking a Dale Prize Practitioner who can draw lessons from experience in innovation and change-making in this vital element of transportation planning and community development.

 Dale Prize events will be held February 4th and 5th, 2015, on the Cal Poly Pomona campus. Nominations are due on December 4, 2014. For more information, or to receive a nomination package, please see http://www.csupomona.edu/~urp/daleprize. If you have additional questions, contact Dr. Richard Willson at rwwillson@nullcsupomona.edu or (909) 869-2701.