Livable City Design Awards

Nested Applications

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Cast your vote for People's Choice before Oct. 27 at 4.p.m

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Nominate a project

Nominations are currently closed.

About the awards

The number and type of awards are at the discretion of the jury, and may include the following:

  • Award of Excellence – Presented to projects that exemplify, as much as possible, the evaluation criteria and the City’s design objectives and principles; and,
  • Award of Merit – Presented to projects that demonstrate excellence in one or more of the evaluation criteria and are in keeping with the City’s design objectives and principles.

The People’s Choice Award will also be included again with this year’s awards program, and voting by the public will take place in the early fall.

Judging and Award Presentation

The Livable City Design Awards are coordinated by the City of Kingston’s Planning Services Department, but all jury members are external to the City. 

The judging of nominated projects will take place in late summer 2023, and the awards ceremony will be held later in the fall (actual dates to be determined).  Jury member selection will be finalized once all the nominations have been received and confirmed.  The nominees will be invited to the ceremony, where the awards will be announced and the mayor or representative will present the winners with plaques. Following the Awards Ceremony, the winners will also receive recognition through various media sources.

Eligibility

All nominated projects must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • The project must be located within the municipal boundaries of the City of Kingston.
  • The project must have been completed between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2022.
  • The project must be a physical, built element or space that is visible and/or accessible to the public.
  • Entries must be exceptional, high-quality, individual designs (e.g. standardized corporate templates will not be accepted).
  • The project cannot have been nominated previously for a Livable City Design Award, unless significant changes or modifications to the project have taken place.

The competition is open to all - architects, designers, planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, contractors, consultants, property owners, and the general public.

Anyone may nominate a project.

All types of development are eligible, including:

  • Residential developments
  • Commercial developments
  • Industrial developments
  • Institutional developments
  • Mixed use developments
  • Heritage conservation projects
  • Recreational facilities
  • Parks, landscaping and open spaces
  • Public spaces
  • Infrastructure
  • Streetscape improvements

Evaluation Criteria

Each detailed project submission will be assessed according to the following criteria:

  • Significance: City Wide Scale – Contribution to the City’s design objectives as related to the City’s image, visual identity, vistas, skyline, and streetscapes;
  • Significance: Community Scale – Contribution to the quality of the environment within a community, the demonstration of regard for the context of the locale, and enhancing a sense of place and personal safety or reinforcing a unique history;
  • Innovation – The degree of creative response to project requirements and site constraints, affordability, incorporation of technology, and the ability to influence trends;
  • Context – The relationship or blending of built form and spaces with existing and planned development, and respect for, or enhancement of, the area’s character;
  • Execution – The quality of construction materials, and the interpretation of the design into reality;
  • Sustainable Design – Demonstrates an integrated approach to design that supports environmental and sustainable site and building practices; and,
  • Accessibility – Displays a high standard of Universal Design principles as set out in the City of Kingston Official Plan and the City’s Residential Design Guidelines.

In addition to the general criteria listed above, the following are criteria specific to heritage projects:

  • Heritage – Eligible projects display the highest standards of conservation practice as defined in the City of Kingston’s Official Plan under Section 7.1.6 “Conservation Protocol”. The specifics of this section are available on the City’s website for reference.

Submission Requirements

The City of Kingston is conducting the nominations for the Livable City Design Awards in two stages.  All that is required in the nomination stage is to complete and submit the nomination form by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 15, 2023

Once the nominations have closed on June 15, 2023, staff will confirm the nominations based on the eligibility criteria and contact the nominees. Please use the following items as a checklist. The owners and designers of the eligible projects will be required to confirm acceptance in writing of the nomination, and provide the following information to the City as part of the second stage of this program:

  • A description of the project, which includes 1) a history of its development and the reasons that the project was undertaken; 2) its urban design merits; and 3) its contribution to the surrounding community’s public realm. Applicants must clearly address the Evaluation Criteria in their responses, where applicable. Each question is to be addressed with a minimum of 250 words and a maximum of 500 words;
  • Exterior photographs of the project, including before and after shots (if applicable), as well as photos depicting the construction process (if available or applicable). Submitted photographs should give a general overview of the project and should also address the highlights explained in the project description. Interior photographs will only be viewed in addition to help elaborate on the exterior elements;
  • Copies of site plans, floor plans, and elevations of the project (if applicable);
  • A digital copy of all photos, plans and descriptions; and,
  • Written authorization from the owner and designer, acknowledging that all information collected will form part of the records of The Corporation of the City of Kingston and will not be returned, and that the information and photographs submitted may be used to promote the program in terms of display material and media information.

Written descriptions should be submitted in MS Word. While images may be included in the text for explanatory purposes, all photographs must be provided in an additional folder in high quality JPEG format.  All electronic material should be submitted on a single digital medium (Memory key / Cloud-based link / CD / DVD).

Past Winners

Winners of the 2017 and 2014 Livable City Design awards are listed below. You can view both the winning entries and the jury reports.

2017 Winners

Tap or click on the images to view the winners and learn more about the winning projects.

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2014 Winners

Tap or click on the images to view the winners and learn more about the winning projects.

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