Back in 1986, then Charleston, SC Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. had an epiphany while wandering the streets of Europe: the mayor is, in many ways, the chief urban designer of their city. Mayors make decisions every day that have the potential to shape the look, feel, and function of their communities for decades to come. They convene stakeholders, break down silos, and help shepherd the dreams and aspirations of their residents into a concrete and actionable vision for the future.
For the last 40 years, this idea has served as MICD’s north star. Through our programs, we have worked with more than 1,200 mayors, helping them embrace their role as the chief urban designers of their cities. As we mark this 40th anniversary, we are proud to share our newly created Principles for City Design Leadership and a suite of associated tools and resources designed to support mayors in this work.
Grounded in four decades of mayoral insight and shaped by a year-long engagement process with past Resource Team members and mayoral workshops, these principles reflect what strong city design leadership looks like in practice. They are paired with tools and resources to help mayors center design, strengthen the built environment, and prioritize resident well-being in everyday decision-making. We invite you to explore the Principles and consider the ways you may put them into practice in your own administrations.
We are deeply grateful to the Urbanism Bureau for their partnership, leadership, and thoughtful work in helping to develop the Principles and associated resources. Their insight and commitment to the role of design in public leadership were instrumental in bringing this work to life.
Principles for City Design Leadership
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| The Principles for City Design Leadership are grounded in a simple idea: the decisions mayors make every day shape the future of their cities. Decisions about streets, public spaces, housing, infrastructure, and economic development all leave a physical imprint on a community, shaping whether a city becomes more equitable, more resilient, more connected, and more beautiful over time.
The Principles are intended to guide this decision-making. They reflect what we have learned through four decades of working with mayors and city leaders across the country: good city design does not happen by accident. It happens when leaders are clear about their values, think long-term, engage their communities, and align policies, investments, and projects around a shared vision.
While every city is different, strong design leadership is remarkably consistent. It requires collaboration across departments and disciplines, meaningful community engagement, a focus on implementation, and a commitment to creating places that support the well-being of all residents. The Principles are designed to help mayors and their teams center these ideas in their daily work and long-term planning.
Explore the Principles
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| The Principles help define what matters. But values only matter if they are carried through to implementation. One of the most important and often overlooked tools cities have to shape the built environment is the Request for Proposals (RFP) process. RFPs do more than solicit bids. They communicate a city’s vision, establish expectations, and ultimately shape what gets built.
MICD’s Guide to Innovative RFPs was developed to help cities use this tool more strategically. Based on a national scan of successful projects and procurement processes, the guide outlines how cities can write RFPs that clearly communicate community priorities, encourage creativity and innovation, and lead to stronger design and development outcomes. In short, it is a resource to help cities translate vision into implementation and values into results.
Explore the Guide |
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The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Since 1986, MICD has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. MICD conducts several sessions each year. Visit micd.org for a list of upcoming events, past participants, and more information.
