A collage made up of sattelite imagery showcasing four large-scale urban design environments.

The Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design recognizes exemplary urban design projects that demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments.

“Since its inception in 1986, the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design has become an important aspect of our School’s life. It is in fact one of the few opportunities we have left, institutionally speaking, to pause for a moment and take a good hard look at what’s going on out there in the world, to take stock of how problems of urban design are being formulated and tackled, and what practices seem to be more successful than others. In a corollary fashion, the prize also allows the School to define itself, especially with respect to those essential values it holds dear.”

– Peter G. Rowe,
Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

About the Prize

Awarded biennially, the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design is the foremost award recognizing achievement in this field. Established in 1986 on the occasion of Harvard University’s 350th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the prize recognizes exemplary urban design projects realized anywhere in the world in the past 10 years. Nominations for the prize are received from the GSD’s extensive network of academics and urban design professionals. Projects must be more than one building or an open space, and are evaluated in terms of their contributions to the public realm and to quality of urban life.

Logo for the Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Logo for the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design