The Minnesota Design Center and the Towerside Innovation District will host a Special Session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Minneapolis, MN from July 22-24, 2026.
Hosts
Towerside Innovation District (“Towerside”) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing equitable, place-based community and economic development. Towerside drives the vision for a vibrant 370-acre district, also known as the Towerside Innovation District, located in the heart of the Twin Cities straddling both Minneapolis and Saint Paul and adjacent to the University of Minnesota campus. Towerside Innovation District serves as a demonstration site for cutting-edge approaches to land use, real estate, infrastructure, and climate adaptation systems.
The Minnesota Design Center (MDC), based at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design, has been a leader in urban design and systems thinking for nearly four decades. MDC specializes in innovative solutions to the design of physical systems such as infrastructure and open space as well as non-physical systems such as public health or service delivery, helping the Twin Cities region seize the opportunities that lie in the social, technological, environmental, and economic disruptions of our time.
Mayors
Participating Mayors TBD
Resource Team
Participating Resource Team TBD