Louisville’s Waterfront Park is up for a major urban development award. The park is one of five finalists for the Rudy Bruner Award, which describes itself as a “search for examples of the often overlooked excellence [in urban areas].”Waterfront Development Corporation President David Karem says just being a finalist is great news for the park and for Louisville.“I think the things they found compelling about Waterfront Park is sort of the broad perspective of what this park has done for the community,” he said. “That it’s been very important in economic development, it’s been very important in cultural development, it’s been significant in the area of education in the community, for accessibility.”He says the award will send a team of people to Louisville in April and spend several days exploring the park.All the finalists will win $10,000; the winner will win $50,000.The other finalists this year are:
- Inspiration Kitchens in Chicago: a restaurant that provides free meals to working poor families and offers workforce training and placement.
- Congo Street Initiative in Dallas: a street infrastructure project that sustainably rehabbed five homes and built a new house for transitional housing.
- The Steel Yard in Providence, RI: a former abandoned steel fabrication facility that was turned into a campus for arts education, workforce training and small-scale manufacturing.
- Via Verde in the Bronx: a LEED Gold certified affordable housing development.
