Central Park Conservancy founder Elizabeth Barlow Rogers and Friends of the High Line founders Joshua David and Robert Hammond will receive this year’s Jane Jacobs Medals, presented by the Municipal Art Society and the Rockefeller Foundation. Rogers founded the Central Park Conservancy in 1980 and served in the dual position of president and park administrator till 1995.

The conservancy became a model for public/private park restorations that has been emulated nationwide. Since its inception, the conservancy has raised $500 million for restoration and maintenance of the park. A writer and scholar on landscape history, Rogers is currently the head of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, another organization she founded. She will donate her entire $80,000 prize to the Foundation.

David and Hammond fought successfully to preserve the High Line, which was slated for demolition during the Giuliani administration. Enlisting the support of politicians, gallerists, celebrities, and the public, they raised raised awareness, and millions, to transform the dilapidated structure into one of the country’s most innovative urban parks. Friends of the High Low now operates as a conservancy and will to cover 70% of the High Line’s operating costs. The High Line’s second phase is now under construction. Hammond and David will each receive $60,000 and will each donate $20,000 to the Friends.