A landscape plan for Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal has won an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The award recognizes a project that seeks to turn a heavily industrial waterfront into a connected civic landscape.

The Gowanus Canal project, designed by landscape architecture firm SCAPE, received the 2026 ASLA Professional Award in Urban Design.

The plan centers on the 2.8 km (1.8 mile) Gowanus Canal. It proposes a network of public spaces across public and private properties. The Gowanus Canal Conservancy commissioned the planning process in 2017. The effort brought together community groups, city agencies, developers, and design professionals.

The project responds to a major shift in the neighborhood. New York City rezoned Gowanus in 2021. The rezoning opened the way for more than 8,500 new housing units, including affordable and market-rate homes. The Lowlands plan aims to ensure that new development also creates public access, ecological improvements, and flood-resilient landscapes.

From polluted canal to public landscape

The canal was once a tidal creek surrounded by wetlands. Industrial development transformed it into a transportation corridor. Factories and other businesses discharged pollutants into the waterway for decades. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the Gowanus a Superfund site in 2010. The designation means the EPA has identified the site for cleanup because it poses risks to people or the environment.

The cleanup remains underway. The EPA says construction of two combined-sewer-overflow retention tanks is progressing. The agency also plans extensive dredging and capping in the canal’s middle section.

The Lowlands plan works alongside that environmental effort. SCAPE’s design addresses flooding, stormwater, heat, and the neighborhood’s limited tree canopy. It also calls for a consistent material palette and the restoration of waterfront edges.

Three privately owned public landscapes have already opened at 420 Carroll St., Sackett Place, and 300 Huntington St.