APA Wisconsin Announces 2026 Planning Excellence Award Recipients
Neenah Next: Downtown Reimagined, developed in partnership with RDG, has been recognized for outstanding achievements and innovations in planning.
The Wisconsin Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-WI) recently announced its 2026 chapter awards, recognizing the Neenah Next: Downtown Reimagined plan with an Economic Development Planning Award. The award is part of APA-WI’s annual awards program and acknowledges a project that strives to transform economies and stimulate economic development through originality and innovation, integration with other planning efforts or initiatives and effective implementation and results. Award recipients were recognized during a luncheon at the APA-WI Annual Conference on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
In response to the need to create a community-driven vision for the future, the City of Neenah, Wisconsin, partnered with RDG Planning & Design and Neighborhood Planners, LLC to develop Neenah Next: Downtown Reimagined, which positions the city as a premier waterfront destination, regional economic center and vibrant mixed-use neighborhood. Developed through an extensive public engagement process and informed by market analysis, the plan establishes a bold yet implementable framework for leveraging Neenah’s historic downtown, waterfront assets, trail systems and strong civic identity to drive long-term economic vitality and quality of life.
Neenah Next demonstrates how a mid-sized Midwestern city can create a people-oriented downtown that competes regionally for residents, employers, visitors and investment, offering a compelling model for downtown revitalization rooted in connectivity, quality of life, sustainability and civic ambition. Equally important, the planning process itself serves as a model for economic development by actively engaging investors and stakeholders, fostering a sense of ownership and motivating them to advance and implement the ideas presented in the plan.
The APA Wisconsin Planning Excellence awards are open to projects located in Wisconsin and that have included an APA-WI or an APA member throughout the planning process. For each award, a jury of planning professionals is selected from outside Wisconsin to recognize the advancements in the state’s planning efforts.