Every session is full of stories.

This provided a great opportunity to focus on the impact we can have in our communities when thinking about design, parks, arts, culture, and mobility. The chance to share my love for cities with mayors and renowned experts has been awesome – stimulating and motivating.

The combination of mayors (without staff) and the broad range of design professionals yields wide-ranging, applicable, and scalable ideas for the transformation of cities; large, medium, and small. MICD has developed an extremely effective format that allows creative problem-solving to flourish and participants leave with an abundance of information, ideas, and energy.

I have had the privilege of participating in MICD since its early days. In that time it is exceedingly clear that the program has had manifold national impacts. As the country and world urbanize, the education this program provides is essential, helping our mayors and their communities create cities with jobs, justice, and joy.

I’ve never been in a space where ideas, passion, and vulnerability flow so freely. I got to feel like an expert in student all at once. I learned, grew, and have been changed by this experience. I so appreciate MICD, our host city, and the rest of the participants for sharing and creating this space of empathy and service.

MICD revolutionized the way I envisioned my project. Tapping so many experts and gaining their invaluable input will transform our vision of our study site and enhance the results of our design.

“Disproportionate impact” is a good way of describing the work of the Mayors’ Institute: a small group of committed people, in a very short period of time, brainstorming alternative futures with significant positive impact potential for the lives of many.

This session was an incredible space for creative collaboration and the generation of innovative ideas that aimed to transform ways of thinking, doing, and operating in the realm of city design. I found new thought partners in my future work and professional development.

I learned more at MICD than I have in any prior conference. MICD should be required orientation for every mayor – no matter the city size.

MICD was an incredible experience that I would recommend to all mayors. It forced me to think about design in the deepest of ways and all its implications on the physical, cultural, and spiritual fabric of my city.

MICD is a transformational opportunity for elected officials to break away, focus, and truly ideate on specific urban challenges. This is an incredible program that serves as a model for how to pair expert professional counsel with driven & passionate public leaders.

This institute would be beneficial for every mayor in America. It helps you recognize the importance of design in developing city and town projects.

It was amazing to see the mayors’ preconceptions about design completely transform over the course of two days. The conversations and presentations also solidified for me how we talk about our work as landscape architects. MICD’s emphasis on design brought it all into focus.

My experience at MICD was more valuable than any other exercise or conference as a mayor. I strongly encourage every mayor to take advantage of the expertise and experience of the MICD Resource Team and fellow mayors.

My MICD experience far surpassed my expectations. I appreciated the variety and depth of the experience of the experts. I plan to share many ideas that I garnered from the experts and my fellow mayors that will certainly help us have a successful downtown development.

This was an incredible opportunity. It is nothing like a typical conference, but rather much more like a grad school cohort. It was all-day learning, very engaging with tactical takeaways from every session. I appreciate the relationships I gained and look forward to implementing as much as possible.

An opportunity to spend just 20 hours with professionals who build communities and mayors who temper public plans to accommodate the wishes and hopes of their hometowns is time well spent. Honest and valuable feedback with people who do not have an agenda is a valuable commodity that mayors require whether they realize it or not.

I loved learning about the diversity — and commonalities — of these cities. No matter how different the challenges, this gathering showed how much we can learn from others’ experiences. It’s great to spent time in a room with so many who care so much.

The Mayors’ Institute isn’t a 3-day retreat from the bustle of your city. Instead, it is a reset — a moment to return to the imaginative first days of your term. I filled notebooks with ideas, inspirations, contacts and precedents to address deep issues in my city. Every mayor needs to go through the Mayors’ Institute.

This is absolutely one of the best opportunities I’ve had the privilege to participate in as a mayor. The expertise of the dynamic individuals on the resource team was beyond impressive. They were amazingly engaged and earnest and offered feedback and ideas for all of the mayors which far exceeded my expectations.

I love being part of the collective transformation that happens when you bring a diverse set of mayors together to tackle complex social, environmental, and economic urban design issues within their cities. It’s a powerful experience for all.

Design thinking and peer-to-peer learning have the power to elevate all we do. MICD sets the table better than any other organization to capture the full benefits they offer.

Best planning charrette experience of my career. The tough problems embraced and openness of leadership created inspiring and thoughtful conversation.

MICD puts committed professionals and mayors together. These three days of learning together reminded me why I became a planner in the first place.

I am encouraged by my experience with MICD. By sharing my case study with other mayors and the resource team of professionals, and by listening to other presentations, my convictions were strengthened, my assumptions challenged, and I am emboldened to expect the best of those who bring development to our city.

MICD is an incredible opportunity for a mayor to interact with other mayors and design professionals for applicable community solutions that would not be available outside of this experience. This is extremely valuable for a new mayor.

Growing a city is extremely important, and city design is focal to that effort. These two days with design experts and other mayors were absolutely invaluable for the development, accessibility, mobility, and growth of my city. This was well worth the time and effort and I recommend it to all mayors.

Participating in these conversations with the mayors and seeing that your input has the potential to help make a difference is extremely rewarding. Equally valuable is being among a diverse group of design leaders and professionals. Seeing the different viewpoints each brings to address the same issue left me feeling inspired and energized by what can be accomplished by dedicated people.

These were two of the best and most thought-provoking days I’ve had in my public service career!

The event was exquisitely organized; the caliber of the Resource Team was second to none. I feel much better equipped to push the envelope and help my city dream and pursue excellent design.

The intimate experience of the MICD session is so unique and impactful. To have a room full of experts poring over my problem was incredibly powerful and something like no other conference can provide.

This MICD was both thrilling and challenging. A new generation of mayors is tackling the thorniest problems yet. MICD opens them up.

[This session] was inspiring, informative and engaging in all aspects. I appreciate the opportunity to work with the incredible mayors and members of the Resource Team and to learn more about the diverse range of issues in cities across the country. This is such an important program that fosters critical dialog and new perspectives about the challenges facing our cities and states.

Virtually every significant urban design project in the country has MICD’s fingerprints on it.

This workshop took me by surprise. Within the first hour, my thinking was both turned on its head and expanded. I have a completely new awareness, language and framework for thinking about the design challenges and opportunities in my community.

MICD provided an opportunity out of the public eye to brainstorm with and learn from design professionals of unmatched ability. You can’t even imagine what you don’t know about the planning and design process, and I learned as much from listening to other mayors’ projects as I did from mine. It really helped me learn how to think like a planner. I left the session energized to work on city planning projects and to look at and think about our community in a different way.

Networking with fellow policymakers and design professionals in a “how can I help you?” setting — absolutely priceless, powerful and forever memorable.

The decision to attend MICD was one of the best investments of my time, especially as a newly elected mayor. The experience caused me to see my city through a different lens. I have a heightened understanding of the significant role design plays in transforming the quality of life for the citizens of my community.

The experts there were incredibly helpful in thinking about the issues from a hundred different directions, 360 degrees. Design isn’t just about gettin a project done and it isn’t just about aesthetics… it’s how you build your city long-term.

The best way I can describe my experience is the experience of people who get glasses for the first time — you see things totally differently and clearly. As mayor, I wasn’t used to thinking about things from the design perspective at all, except for aesthetics. I feel like I have a new set of glasses on and it will help me translate projects in a way that will have better impact on the city.