Isabelle Anguelovski receives American award for her book on urban planning and environmental justice (MIT Press, 2014)

The researcher Isabelle Anguelovski of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) has been awarded the Honorable Mention for the Paul Davidoff Book Award for the publication of her book Neighborhood as Refuge: Community Reconstruction, Place Remaking, and Environmental Justice in the City (MIT Press 2014).

The Paul Davidoff Award is granted biennially by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) to recognize the best publications in the field of modern city planning with a special consideration of justice and social equity. The award was established three decades ago to honor the memory of a revered and respected activist academic, Paul Davidoff, who viewed planning as a process to address a wide range of societal problems and to improve conditions for all people. Before his untimely death, he implemented major contributions to the field as an educator, practitioner, and intellectual. His influence in planning extends to this day, and his work constitutes a watershed in the theory and practice of community planning.

The Davidoff Award is presented at the annual ACSP conference which will be held October 22-24 in Houston, Texas (United States).The committee recognizes the publication promoting participatory planning and positive empowerment through social change, finding ways to reduce disparities in society. 

The committee noted the excellent quality of the submissions received for this award and emphasized that Anguelovski publication engages with issues of “poverty, inequality and social justice that were central to Paul Davidoff's work” and offers information about and insights into the politics of participation which is of great interest to advocate planners.