San Francisco Prize - Promoting Good Urban Design:

The San Francisco Prize seeks to inspire designers not to just be problem solvers but to offer up new ideas in the public arena. The intent is to get people to really look at their physical environment and think about what can be improved or what alternatives can be developed.

There have been four San Francisco Prize design competitions since its inception in 1996: Octavia Boulevard Housing, the Federal Building Philip Burton Plaza, Union Square Plaza and Harvey Milk Plaza. All competitions received international attention when hundreds competing to take home top honors and receive cash prizes.