Aust Inducted into AICP College of Fellows
May 01, 2008
A footbridge in Gene Leahy Mall bears his name. The dedication plaque, adjacent to the Farnam Street entrance, pays tribute to a legacy that continues to impact the city’s look and feel.
Alden Aust, the City of Omaha’s first planning director, was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) April 27 at the American Planning Association’s national conference in Las Vegas. The honor, one of the highest bestowed by the AICP, recognizes the achievements of the inductee as an individual, elevating the Fellow before the public and the profession as a model planner who has made significant contributions to planning and society.
Aust is widely viewed as the father of the planning profession in Omaha. He began his tenure with the city in 1956, building and staffing a fledgling planning department that – under his tutelage – developed into an influential advocate for community quality and investment. Three of his staff went on to serve as Omaha’s planning director in subsequent years, including Steve Jensen, the current planning director.
“Even though most Omahans today would not realize it, the City of Omaha would not be the city it is today without Mr. Aust’s extraordinary vision and leadership,” Jensen wrote in support of Aust’s nomination. “He truly embodies the best the planning profession has to offer.”
Aust’s contributions during his 24-year turn as planning director, a period that saw six mayors enter and exit office, are staggering.
- From his first days on the job, Aust recognized the important role of Omaha’s private sector in moving the city forward. He nurtured productive partnerships between business leaders and the planning department – a working model that remains in place to this day.
- During the 1960s, he developed and implemented the city’s first subdivision ordinance. He also prepared and implemented the city’s first comprehensive plan elements, including land use, parks and recreation, and transportation. The parks element included the unprecedented concept of using creek corridors as greenways and trails – the foundation of the city’s trail system as well as Omaha by Design’s Green Omaha projects and activities.
- He managed the preparation of Omaha’s first master plan for downtown development, which helped bring about major office construction, identified a site for the new Civic Center and proposed the idea of a transit mall along the main street of the central business district.
- He established an urban design section within the planning department, fashioned and led Omaha’s aggressive annexation program, initiated and managed the Return to the River planning program, and initiated and implemented the Urban Development Policy – a pioneering and successful growth management program that required contiguous growth of new development controlled by the incremental extension of interceptor sewer lines.
Upon his retirement in 1981, Aust led an effort to plan a public botanical garden on the site of a former landfill overlooking the Missouri River. Twenty-five years and $20 million worth of investment later, Lauritzen Gardens in south Omaha is one of the city’s marquee tourist attractions.
“The great planner Edmund Bacon is rightly acclaimed for his contributions to the City of Philadelphia,” wrote Marty Shukert, principal with RDG Planning & Design and one of Nebraska’s two other AICP Fellows. “Alden F. Aust is our Ed Bacon.”
Those who’d like to gain some visual insight into Aust’s influence on the face of Omaha can view “If These Walls Could Speak,” UNO Television’s 1994 documentary that tells the story of Omaha’s first 100 years by focusing on its historic buildings. Aust was among those interviewed for the project.
“If These Walls Could Speak” is available for purchase from UNO Television at 402.554.2516. It also can be borrowed from the video archives of the Nebraska Humanities Council (NHC). For more information, contact the NHC at 402.474.2131 or nhc@nebraskahumanities.org.