APRIL 27 – 29 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
The Mayors’ Institute on City Design was thrilled to welcome 300 of the nations mayors, design experts, federal officials, policy leaders and distinguished guests to Chicago for the National Mayors Summit on City Design in April of 2011. The MICD Report on the National Mayors Summit on City Design is forthcoming. For those who were unable to attend the Summit, please check out videos of the plenary sessions and lunches.
At the Summit, mayors will join the nation’s foremost experts from the design and development disciplines that work together to design livable cities. These Summit participants will celebrate 25 years of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, honor the design legacy of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and, most importantly, explore and promote the critical importance of design in urban environments.
The cadre of mayors will include MICD alumni, as well as other mayors who are committed to design as a solution to the problems facing our cities. Participants from the design world will include those who have served on the “resource teams” for past MICD sessions, such as architects, urban planners, landscape architects, developers, and others in related design professions.
The roster of confirmed speakers reflects the exceptional nature of this gathering and the diverse disciplines that come together in designing effective and inspiring urban environments. The speakers include: US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan , National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman , Under Secretary for the US Department of Transportation Roy Kienitz, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Charleston, SC, Mayor (and founder of MICD) Joseph P. Riley, Jr.
The Summit will be part celebration, part investigation, and part think tank.The Summit will include Plenary Sessions that explore broader questions about the nature of design in shaping the urban experience and the role of civic and design leaders in solving problems for residents.
A series of Forums will enable participants to discuss and debate design issues in smaller groups. The Summit will highlight the federal government’s agenda for, and response to, critical design issues, with a panel featuring high-level representatives from agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. (Cabinet Secretaries have been invited to speak). The concluding sessions will give participants an opportunity to reflect on the Summit’s conversations and insights and begin to formulate recommendations for all of our nation’s mayors.
The National Mayors Summit on City Design will energize mayors, design professionals, and agency representatives about the power and potential of good design. The caliber of participants will draw national attention to the importance of design in shaping and sustaining our cities. In addition, the participants will identify key, emerging design issues that mayors must consider, and they will make recommendations on ways of working collaboratively (with design professionals, government representatives, the business community, and city residents) to address those issues. Summit proceedings, outcomes, and recommendations will be documented and distributed broadly to help shape policy and influence decision making for better outcomes in designing our cities.
