Honors & Awards

The Olmsted Medal was instituted in 1990 to recognize individuals, organizations, agencies, or programs outside the profession of landscape architecture for environmental leadership, vision, and stewardship. The Medal honors Frederick Law Olmsted, considered the founder of the American landscape architecture profession and steward of the environment.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Honorary ASLA, is a national leader who has created planning, landscape architecture, and environmental programs for his city. Under his leadership, Chicago has added more than 120 new acres of parkland and many new recreation facilities. Newsweek columnist George Will called Mayor Daley the “Martha Stewart of mayors,” and credits his green thumb with producing a “city chock full of gardens.” The Mayor’s initiatives include a Chicago Landscape Ordinance, which won the ASLA Illinois Chapter President’s Award in 2000, reforming the Chicago zoning code, and incorporating green space through all neighborhoods; creating award-winning streetscape and medians; and enacting environmental, urban forestry, and green roofs initiatives. Due in large part to his efforts, Chicago was voted one of the “10 Best Places to Live” by Money magazine in 2002.

Read the nomination letter by Susan Jacobson, FASLA, and letters of support by Carrie Woleben-Meade, ASLA, James L. Wescoat, ASLA, and Patrick Miller Ph.D., FASLA.