Marty Shukert Recognized for Leadership and Vision with Award of Merit

December 18, 2019
Community & Regional Planning

Presented by the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, the award honors individuals whose efforts have had an extraordinary positive influence across the region.

RDG Planning & Design Principal Marty Shukert, FAICP has been awarded the 2019 MAPA Award of Merit. The award, the highest honor of service conferred by the organization, recognizes individuals whose efforts have had an extraordinary influence on MAPA’s six-county region. 

“MAPA recognized Marty for his leadership and vision at the City of Omaha, where he worked tirelessly for North and South Omaha neighborhoods and helped foster the renaissance of downtown Omaha as well as at RDG where his ongoing planning work continues to touch nearly every corner of the region,” said MAPA Executive Director, Greg Youell.

With more than 40 years in planning and urban design, Shukert has helped shape major downtown and neighborhood development projects, including Omaha’s riverfront redevelopment and downtown housing programs. As a leader for RDG’s Community and Regional Planning Market, his work focuses on comprehensive planning, downtown and special district planning, housing, urban design and trail, transportation, bicycle and pedestrian systems.  

“Marty’s passion for and dedication to enhancing our cities is as strong today as it was the day he joined RDG in 1989,” said RDG Managing Principal John Sova, AIA. “He continues to grow and evolve in his thinking about how we can make our neighborhoods and cities that much better on every project with which he’s involved.” 

(Pictured L-R: Douglas County Commissioner Clare Duda, MAPA Council of Officials President; Marty Shukert, RDG Planning & Design Principal; Greg Youell, MAPA Executive Director; Omaha City Council Member Pete Festersen, MAPA Board Member.)

Shukert’s extensive experience includes such major efforts as the Interstate 40 Relocation and Core to Shore Redevelopment Plans for Oklahoma City, Nebraska Statewide Trails Plans, the North Omaha Development Project Plan and numerous downtown development and active transportation plans. In addition to the MAPA Award of Merit, he was the first Nebraskan to be named a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and was awarded History Nebraska’s (formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society) first-ever Placemaker-Historymaker Award. Shukert has also been named to the Commercial Real Estate, Nebraska Housing and Omaha Central High Halls of Fame.

Written by Erin Van Zee, Communications Director