2025 Winners
Built Project Award
Winner: Hi Line Connector
The Hi Line Connector is a one-mile urban trail that links the Katy Trail and Trinity Strand Trail, transforming an auto-oriented corridor into a safe, welcoming route through the Dallas Design District. The project enhances regional mobility and reframes Hi Line Drive as an active civic space.
Through close coordination with city and state partners, the corridor was redesigned with protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, acces-sible crossings, and shaded landscape areas, creating a comfortable and connected public realm. Public art, custom furnishings, lighting, and native plantings establish a cohesive identity and linear park atmosphere.
The Hi Line Connector exemplifies integrated, human-centered urban design, using strategic interventions to deliver mobility, envi-ronmental, and community benefits at the heart of Dallas’s evolving urban fabric.
The Southwestern Medical District Urban Streetscape and Park Transformation is a $198 million initiative reimagining two miles of Harry Hines Boulevard as a climate-responsive green corridor while converting a dated cloverleaf interchange into an eight-acre signa-ture park. Led by the Texas Trees Foundation, the project addresses deteriorating infrastructure, limited walkability, and severe heat-is-land conditions in one of Dallas’s most important healthcare hubs.
The Green Spine introduces shaded sidewalks, a two-way cycle track, safer crossings, SMART signals, and extensive native landscaping to cool the corridor and improve mobility. The Green Park provides restorative spaces for patients, families, staff, and students, using vegetation buffers and biophilic design to promote health and comfort.
Grounded in research and partnerships, the project offers a model for integrating environmental wellness, mobility, and infrastructure to strengthen community health.
Unbuilt Dream / Study Award Winner:
Southwestern Medical District Urban Streetscape and Park Transformation Project
DUNNIGAN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AWARD:
South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan
The South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan reflects five years of deep, community-led engagement. Initiated during the pandemic and culminating in unanimous City Council adoption in 2025, the process included hundreds of meetings, workshops, tours, and conversations that centered resident voices in shaping the plan.
The engagement effort helped unify neighborhood groups, launched new revitalization committees, and catalyzed community-driven initiatives such as a historic district nomination in Queen City. Inter-departmental collaboration supported affordable housing, property reinvestment, and small-business empowerment through hands-on tools like micro-visioning and mock proformas.
A trauma-informed approach rebuilt trust through on-the-ground outreach in homes, churches, and gathering places. Implementation is now underway, with rezonings, roadway evaluations, and new investments guided directly by residents—fulfilling the plan’s core purpose of enabling South Dallas to chart its own future.
Mark Goode Pioneer Award Winner:
Brian Bergerson
Brian Bergersen, President and Founder of Spectrum Properties, is an entrepreneurial leader whose redevelopment work has reshaped Dallas. His projects combine design excellence, historic preservation, and community value through effective public-private partnerships.
A signature achievement is the revitalization of the Dallas Farmers Market into a mixed-use district with housing, open space, and local commerce, an effort attracting over $150 million in investment and more than one million annual visitors. The project also catalyzed hundreds of millions in surrounding redevelopment.
Bergersen’s Third Rail Lofts reintroduced residential living to Main Street, transforming historic buildings and a former parking lot into a mixed-use community recognized with numerous preservation and design awards. His leadership in creating Downtown’s video board and signage ordinance modernized the district’s visual identity.
Across his career, Bergersen has generated significant economic, cultural, and urban benefits and continues to shape Dallas’s built environment through regional leadership roles.
Kessler Lifetime Achievement Award Winner:
Michael Morris
Michael Morris has shaped mobility in the Dallas–Fort Worth region for more than four decades. After joining NCTCOG in 1979, he became Director of Transportation in 1990, guiding planning and implemen-tation for a vast multimodal system serving millions of residents.
He has advanced an integrated approach to mobility, coordinating roadway, transit, bicycle and pedestrian planning, air quality, and congestion management. His leadership has influenced major regional investments, long-range plans, and the development of diverse transportation options.
Morris’s contributions have been recognized nationally through awards and leadership roles with the Transportation Research Board and the National Academies. His longstanding service continues to guide how North Texas plans for growth, mobility, and quality of life.
The Arlington Exchange District envisions a walkable, mixed-use destination in Downtown Arlington. Developed through the Down-town Arlington Visioning Studio, the concept plan proposes a framework of buildings, blocks, streets, and public spaces that strengthens the city’s identity while enhancing multimodal access and urban life.
The plan repurposes vacant and underutilized parcels into a cohesive district with a transit station, civic plaza, mixed-use development, and flexible gathering spaces. Human-scale streetscapes, public art, open spaces, and intuitive wayfinding support a vibrant live–work–play environment.
Blending preservation with new landmarks, the concept uses blue-green infrastructure to improve resilience and environmental performance. The Exchange District presents an achievable vision for revitalizing Downtown Arlington through design excellence and community-oriented placemaking.
Student Urban Design Award Winner:
Arlington Exchange District
