Omar Blaik Delivers Impactful Speech at 2026 Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Awards

On March 11, we celebrated U3 Advisors’ CEO, Omar Blaik, the 2026 honoree of DesignPhiladelphia’s Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Awards.

This distinguished honor recognizes Omar’s decades of visionary and collaborative work to transform not only his adopted hometown of Philly, but communities across the country. In his remarks, Omar challenged the competition’s student honorees to follow Ed’s example: think bigger. Aspire to excellence. Find the courage to build the kinds of cities our nation needs right now.

“This award is meant to honor achievements in the design of places, but we are not content merely to design. We are called to build. So let us build.”

Congratulations and thank you always for the inspiration, Omar.