San Diego-Tijuana ULI Presents Healthy Places Awards
The $50M San Diego County Waterfront Park, a public water park that replaced parking lots at the County Administration Center, and Bridge Housing's Celadon at 9th and Broadway, a 250-unit, high-rise affordable family housing project in Downtown, were among nine projects that won Urban Land Institute SD-Tijuana’s Healthy Places awards. The water park took the Healthy Place Crown Jewel Award because it celebrates recreation, urban living and a new use for an asphalt parking lot, and Celadon at 9th and Broadway, a LEED Gold, transit-oriented project that encourages residents to utilize alternative modes of transportation, took the Urban Model for Healthy Living Award.
Other recipients were:
The Alexandria at Torrey Pines, a life sciences and technology campus that provides fitness and other facilities that promote a healthy lifestyle, received the Healthy Place for Business Award.
The Leichtag Foundation’s Leichtag Commons and Coastal Roots Farm, a sustainable farming educational project that shares its harvest with communities that lack access to healthy food, took the Urban Agriculture for Better Health Award.
Hilltop gARTen, an outdoor classroom garden at Hilltop Child Development Center in Chula Vista built by artists, designers and other local volunteers to teach young children about art, nature and gardening, took the Grass Roots Healthy Place Award.
The ARTS District Liberty Station, a facility on the former Naval Training Center in Point Loma that provides classes and workshops in the arts, music, dance and other cultural endeavors, received the Artful Healthy Place Award.
UCSD distinguished professor James F. Sallis was recognized as an Award Winning Visionary for his research on how public policy and environmental influences affect physical activity, nutrition and obesity.
Copley-Price Family YMCA and City of La Mesa Urban Trails Mobility Action Plan Olivewood Gardens were awarded Catalysts for Food Health Merit Awards. Copley-Price Family YMCA offers healthy living and youth development programs aimed at helping members of all ages make healthy life choices, and the 6.85-acre Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center in National City is an indoor-outdoor, interactive classroom focused on teaching children and adults to build healthy families and a healthy environment.
This was the first year for ULI SD-Tijuana's Healthy Places awards, which were presented at a gala event May 11 at Farmer and the Seahorse. ULI, an international organization based in Washington, DC, is focused on promoting sustainable, healthy urban communities. ULI launched the Building Healthy Places Initiative in 2013. [ULI SD/TJ]
