Alongside such innovations as a 3D printed vaccine patch, an electric truck, a seawater-powered lamp, Sasaki’s interactive tool Climate.Park.Change was lauded for providing a tool for park and recreation professionals in the struggle with climate change. The awards honor products, concepts, companies, policies, and designs that are driving change, tackling issues from climate change to inequality.
The winners of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced, honoring clean technology, innovative corporate initiatives, brave new designs for cities and buildings, and other creative works that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation, tackling social inequality, climate change, and public health crises.
Climate.Park.Change, a pilot toolkit created by Sasaki in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), received honorable mention in the climate category of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards. This toolkit compiles data on how climate change is affecting park and recreation spaces and offers physical design and community engagement solutions to address climate impacts and other challenges. This toolkit was informed by research and interviews with park and recreation professionals and tested by three park and recreation agencies who used it to inform the design of existing parks facing specific climate challenges.
Now in its sixth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 39 winners, 350 finalists, and more than 600 honorable mentions—with climate, social justice, and AI and data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,997 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice, and more. In addition, several new categories have been added this year including climate, nature, water, and workplace. The 2022 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Australia.
Fast Company’s Summer 2022 issue (on newsstands May 10, 2022) will showcase some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling global challenges. The issues highlight, among others, probiotics for coral reefs, easy-to-assemble kit homes for refugees or disaster survivors, a 3D printed vaccine patch, an electric truck, a system to heat homes from the waste heat of a name-brand factory, and prosecutor-initiated resentencing for overly long prison sentences.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by Fast Company for our Climate.Park.Change toolkit. Our park and recreation professionals are innovators and champions in addressing our most pressing environmental challenges and it is our mission to support them with resources like this toolkit. The Climate.Park.Change toolkit allows park and recreation professionals to tackle massive issues, like climate change, that they may not have the capacity to address with their own resources,” said Kristine Stratton, NRPA Chief Executive Officer.
“We are honored to be recognized by Fast Company for our interactive tool, Climate.Park.Change. Our urban parks provide one of the greatest opportunities to both adapt to, and mitigate, the impacts of climate change. Our website looks at 13 major threats from climate change and ties the issues to action, arming designers and parks agencies with strategies for more resilient planning and design,” says Anna Cawrse, ASLA, PLA, Sasaki’s research lead and co-director of Sasaki’s Denver office.
“We are consistently inspired by the novelty and creativity that people are applying to solve some of our society’s most pressing problems, from shelter to the climate crisis. Fast Company relishes its role in amplifying important, innovative work to address big challenges,” says David Lidsky, interim editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists have identified some of the most ingenious initiatives to launch since the start of 2021, which we hope will both have a meaningful impact and lead others to join in being part of the solution.”
To learn more about the Climate.Park.Change toolkit, visit climateparkchange.net.
To learn more about NRPA, visit nrpa.org.
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About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.
About the National Recreation and Park Association
The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) is the leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to building strong, vibrant and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation. With more than 60,000 members, NRPA advances this mission by investing in and championing the work of park and recreation professionals and advocates — the catalysts for positive change in service of equity, climate-readiness, and overall health and well-being. For more information, visit www.nrpa.org. For digital access to NRPA’s flagship publication, Parks & Recreation, visit www.parksandrecreation.org.
About Sasaki
Sasaki has led the design industry for the past 70 years in bringing together diverse perspectives, blending disciplines, engaging with clients and communities, drawing on history and context, uncovering new ways of thinking and making, and tapping into data and emerging technologies to shape the built environment. With offices in Boston, Denver, Shanghai, and now New York, Sasaki's 300+ design professionals partner with educational, civic, and commercial clients around the world. Sasaki’s integrated services span landscape architecture, planning, urban design, civil engineering, architecture, interior design, space planning, and data analytics.