The 2026 Peoples’ Choice Award for Great Public Space in Charlotte

* NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED FOR 2026. You can view this year’s winners here: Revealing The 2026 Urban Design Award Winners

Nominations for the 2026 Urban Design Awards are now open!

Affectionately dubbed the “Urbies,” this Urban Design Center-led awards program aims to recognize, celebrate and champion quality urban design in Charlotte. Every project awarded encourages continued community discussion around what makes for unique and great places.

Over the next two weeks, residents have the opportunity to nominate outstanding projects for the People’s Choice Award for Great Urban Design.

The People’s Choice Award is a completely community-led category. Our philosophy is “People Make Cities,” so we wanted to give the residents of Charlotte the opportunity to give their favorite public space a shout out! Past winners include:

For the other categories, listed below, a jury of 10 urban design experts will choose from contemporary projects around Charlotte!

  • Great New Development Near Transit.
  • Great Walkable Neighborhood.
  • Great New Life for an Old Place.
  • Great Public Space.
  • Great Placemaking.
  • Great Mobility Project.
  • Great Urban Architecture.
  • Great Urban Design Champion.
  • Great Neighborhood Champion.
  • Great Student Project.
  • Great Suburban Design.

Nominations close on Friday, Sept. 11th. Winners will be announced at the Urban Design Awards ceremony on Thursday, October 29th.

Want more Urbies? Check out our post featuring last year’s winners: Urbies 2025 Recap


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