{"id":562901,"date":"2026-03-25T08:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T08:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562901\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T08:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T08:01:13","slug":"winners-revealed-australian-urban-design-awards-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562901\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners revealed: Australian Urban Design Awards 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The winners of this year\u2019s Australian Urban Design Awards have been revealed, showcasing exemplar urban design projects, leaders and initiatives from across the country.<\/p>\n

Established in 1996, the awards aim to platform intelligent and innovative urban design contributions that improve the performance of Australian cities for communities.<\/p>\n

In 2026, twelve winners have been named, including nine projects selected from 27 shortlisted entries<\/a>, and three individuals. In total, this year\u2019s awards program attracted over 80 entrants across its four categories: Built Outcomes, Research and Advocacy, Strategic Design and Policy, and Urban Design Champions.<\/p>\n

Chair of the Steering Committee for the Australian Urban Design Awards Katheine Sundermann commented that the results of this year\u2019s awards contrasted somewhat with recent years, which had been marked by planning reform, housing supply and major transport projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s winners reflect a gentler approach to urban transformation: projects rooted in Indigenous and community leadership, ecological landscapes, and the creation of places for people to gather,\u201d she said. \u201cThese projects reinforce a simple idea: urban transformation works best when it involves diverse people, responds to the specifics of place, and improves places over time.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of three joint winners in the Built Outcomes category, Balam Balam Place<\/a> in Brunswick by Kennedy Nolan, Open Work and Finding Infinity was praised by the jury as a socially inclusive civic precinct developed with a sensitive approach to the renewal of existing heritage fabric, whose \u201cdeliberate sense of incompleteness is a significant strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the jury, the Campbelltown Station Commuter Carpark<\/a> by Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects, also a winner in this category, reconceived a purely utilitarian building type as an enduring civic infrastructure animated by colour and planting; in their words, \u201cnot simply an infrastructure for cars, but a resilient, civic-minded and genuinely optimistic car \u2018park\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third winner in this category, St Kilda Pier Redevelopment by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, Site Office Landscape Architecture and AW Maritime, was described by the jury as \u201ca major piece of civic engineering \u2026 that is both resilient and whimsical\u201d, responding to several decades of master planning with \u201d a vital component of enhanced public realm and consolidated coastal infrastructure.\u201d <\/p>\n

The 2026 jury comprised Matt Pullinger, director of Matthew Pullinger Architect; Bill Tsakalos, city architect and director of transformational design at Blacktown City Council; Leigh Woolley, director of Leigh Woolley Architect; and Emily Wong, editor of Landscape Architecture Australia in the Built Outcomes category. The jury for the Research and Advocacy, and Strategic Design and Policy categories included Anna Chauvel of Design and Place, Placemaking NSW, Cameron Caldwell, Member for Fadden, Liberal National Party of Queensland, Ben Driver, senior lecturer in urban development and design at UNSW, and Bridget Smyth, city architect and executive manager of city design and public art at the City of Sydney. Judging the Urban Design Champions category was Elizabeth Watson-Brown, Member for Ryan, Australian Greens; Tina Perinotto, managing editor of The Fifth Estate; Dani\u00e8le Hromek, director and design lead of Djinjama; Ian Woodcock, senior lecturer in urbanism at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, the University of Sydney; and Jennie Officer, director of Officer Woods Architects.<\/p>\n

The full list of winners are:<\/p>\n

Built Outcomes <\/p>\n

Balam Balam Place<\/a> \u2013 Kennedy Nolan, Open Work and Finding Infinity<\/p>\n

Campbelltown Station Commuter Carpark<\/a> \u2013 Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects<\/p>\n

St Kilda Pier Redevelopment \u2013 Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, Site Office Landscape Architecture and AW Maritime<\/p>\n

\"Campbelltown<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

Research and Advocacy <\/p>\n

Safer Cities program \u2013 Transport for NSW<\/p>\n

The Grassening \u2013 \u201cThe Grassening\u201d Team<\/p>\n

ULI Australia, and Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria) Net Zero Imperative: Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) \u2013 Street Trees as Essential Infrastructure \u2013 The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Australia, and the Department of Transport and Planning (Victoria)<\/p>\n

\"Safer<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

Strategic Design and Policy <\/p>\n

Doomadgee Future Planning Project \u2013 Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire Council, Circ Design and Meridian Urban<\/p>\n

From Policy to Place: Vincent\u2019s Co-Funded Framework for Town Centre Transformation \u2013 City of Vincent and the local businesses of Vincent<\/p>\n

NSW Housing Pattern Book \u2013 Government Architect NSW with the NSW DPHI Strategic Planning and Policy Team<\/p>\n

\"Doomadgee<\/p>\n

View gallery<\/p>\n

Urban Design Champions<\/p>\n

Michael Rayner<\/p>\n

Rob McGauran<\/p>\n

Shelley Penn AM<\/p>\n

The Australian Urban Design Awards<\/a> are co-convened by the Australian Institute of Architects<\/a>, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects<\/a> and the Planning Institute of Australia<\/a>, and supported by principal partner Bondor Metecno<\/a> and supporting partner Dulux<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The winners of this year\u2019s Australian Urban Design Awards have been revealed, showcasing exemplar urban design projects, leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-562901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}