IDA Awards Top Industry Honor to Downtown Detroit Partnership
Award Recognizes Innovative Achievement in Urban Place Management
DETROIT – The International Downtown Association (IDA) has recognized the Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) with the Downtown Achievement Pinnacle Award for its work and initiatives related to the DDP’s I-375 Peer Review and community engagement. The DDP’s project submission is titled “A New Standard for Community-Driven Engagement: Repairing the Past and Shaping the Future.”
Each year, IDA recognizes outstanding projects through the Downtown Achievement Awards, which honor organizations worldwide for advancing urban centers. Its highest honor, the Pinnacle Award, celebrates the most inspiring innovations in urban place management. This year, an IDA member jury selected winners in leadership development; organizational management; economic development; marketing, communications and events; planning, design and infrastructure; policy and advocacy; and public space management and operations. DDP’s Peer Review and community engagement initiatives won in the Policy and Advocacy category.
The I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project, led by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the City of Detroit, proposed replacing a downtown freeway with a surface-level boulevard. Early designs prioritized traffic flow, relied on outdated data and were introduced without fully integrating meaningful public input, leaving residents and business leaders questioning whether the project reflected a shared vision for Detroit’s future.
Backed by a $3.2 million grant from The Kresge Foundation, DDP stepped forward to lead an independent Peer Review and a comprehensive engagement process that brought together residents, corporate and small business leaders, institutional partners, and visitor perspectives. The effort reframed the project around current data, best practices and community priorities, and united diverse stakeholders, leveraged catalytic public funding for maximum economic and placemaking impact and established a replicable framework for community-led infrastructure planning.
“The Pinnacle Award is a tremendous honor for the Downtown Detroit Partnership and our partners which affirms the depth of our efforts to ensure a community-driven process that respects Detroit’s past while shaping its future. The I-375 Peer Review demonstrates what is possible when we listen to the community and work together toward a shared vision. We thank the International Downtown Association for recognizing this work and the many partners who contributed their expertise and perspectives to this important process,” said Eric B. Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
DDP was recognized for their award-winning project during an awards ceremony at the 72nd Annual Conference & Marketplace. IDA’s Annual Conference & Marketplace is the premier gathering for professional place managers and urban champions creating vibrant and healthy cities around the world. For more information about the session and conference, please visit the event webpage.
“DDP’s innovative project received the IDA Pinnacle Award for setting the new standard for improving cities around the world,” said David Downey, IDA president and CEO. “The DDP’s I-375 Peer Review has made an impact on its community and the people who live, work, and play there, and is evidence of the continued commitment to champion livable, vital, and thriving urban centers.”
Additional information on the 2026 Pinnacle award winners can be found online at downtown.org.
Read the Peer Review and for more about the I-375 project at DowntownDetroit.org/I-375.
###
About the Downtown Detroit Partnership
Since 1922, the Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) has worked to cultivate social and economic impact in Downtown Detroit. As a member-based nonprofit, the DDP convenes civic, corporate, community, and philanthropic partners to create a vibrant and world-class urban core. As a leader in Downtown urban innovation, the organization also provides small business support and manages, programs, and stewards 18 parks and public spaces throughout Downtown Detroit. Learn more at DowntownDetroit.org and engage on social media @DowntownDet.
About IDA
The International Downtown Association (IDA) is the premier organization for urban place professionals who are shaping and activating dynamic city center districts. Our members are city builders and downtown champions who bring urban centers to life, bridging the gap between the public and private sectors. We represent an industry of more than 2,500 place management organizations, employing 100,000 people throughout North America and growing rapidly around the world. Founded in 1954, IDA is a resource center for ideas and innovative best practices in urban place management. For more information, visit www.downtown.org.
IDA’s members have a proven track record of creating collaborative public-private partnerships to tackle weighty issues. Place management organizations affect significant change in every major metropolitan area throughout North America in an industry that is growing rapidly around the globe. More than 2,500 downtown management districts exist in cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Place management work touches every discipline of city building, including economic development, leadership, marketing, events, public space management, policy, planning and infrastructure.
