Fast Company Recognizes Downtown Cary Park as Best Urban Design Project for 2025
For the second year in a row, a design jury from Fast Company has awarded an OJB-designed park as its top Urban Design winner. Downtown Cary Park in Cary, North Carolina adds to its impressive list of awards as one of the country’s top public parks.
Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards highlight leading ideas across all industries and brands that celebrate smart and resilient solutions.
Cody Klein, FASLA, OJB partner and lead designer for the project noted, “Cary’s long-range vision for connecting and activating its downtown with a dynamic open space was 20 years in the making.” The green infrastructure of the park design controls stormwater and prevents downstream flooding, while also serving as a beautiful amenity across the 7-acre site. The local chamber of commerce estimates that the city saw nearly $300 million added to its tax base in the year after the park opened.
More than 750,000 people visited the park in its first year, a testament to wonderful and diverse programming, botanical expression from the Piedmont region, and its connection to the entire downtown core with a shared social district. Read Nate Berg’s feature, How a small North Carolina city transformed its downtown into one of the country’s best parks (here) and below.
Fast Company Innovation by Design clip
