Each year, the California Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism presents the Paul Crawford Award to an outstanding member who has made considerable contributions to the advancement of the principles of the New Urbanism. The award was created in honor of the late planning director of San Luis Obispo, professor at Cal State San Luis Obispo, and nationally recognized coding expert, and Mr. Paul Crawford.

The planning profession in its search to recapture the pride and glory of being a city planner needs a hero that inspires us to strive for the good in the world – and have a good time while working hard to make a difference. Paul Crawford was one such consummate planning protagonist that exemplified the best attributes of a planner and set an example of a contemporary American planning hero.

Paul enjoyed distinctive and livable places and was a true pioneer in crafting policies and over 100 development codes that would facilitate such places. He was generous with his time and offered advice to others who could help make communities better places.