OMAHA, NE — RDG Planning & Design Principal Martin Shukert, FAICP has been awarded the 2019 Omaha – Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (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 Greg Youell, MAPA Executive Director.

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 leader of RDG’s Community and Regional Planning Studio, 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 President and COO 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.”

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.