The Mayors' Institute on City Design was acknowledged at The U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual Winter Meeting on Thursday, January 18, during the luncheon honoring London Mayor Ken Livingstone, for its achievement in winning a Presidential Award for Design Excellence for the year 2000. The awards were presented by President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a ceremony at D.A.R. Constitution Hall on December 20, 2000.

These awards recognize projects that exemplify the highest standards of federal design in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and planning, historic preservation, interior design, engineering, graphic and product design, and industrial design. The Mayors' Institute is an initiative established by the National Endowment for the Arts and carried out in Partnership with the Conference of Mayors and the American Architectural Foundation.

At the luncheon, Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., founder of the Mayors' Institute, gave a brief summary of the institute's fifteen year history. In 1984, Mayor Riley had the opportunity to take part in an all expense paid urban design study trip to Europe. There he witnessed the cultural difference between the two continents' attitudes towards the importance of architecture and design in shaping the quality of city life. Mayor Riley noted that in American cities mayors have more power over the physical design of their city than any other division of leadership, yet they have "no reason to feel self-confident in [their] own ability to be the urban designers for [their] cities". This educational experience convinced Riley of the need to provide a similar opportunity for his peers.

In a letter to Jaquelin Robertson, then Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, Mayor Riley proposed a program to provide such an experience. Robertson, in turn, successfully sought funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Since October, 1986, the Institute has met at the University of Virginia, as well as other venues, because, in Riley's words, it is "the most beautiful lasting piece of American architecture" designed by one of our nation's greatest political leaders, Thomas Jefferson.

In the years since, more then four hundred and fifty mayors from across the country have participated in the Mayors' Institute, nearly half of whom are still in office. Mayor Riley urged all mayors who have not yet participated to clear their schedules and attend a Mayors' Institute session at first invitation. The Mayor noted that the majority of mayors who attend a Mayors' Institute leave rating the event as one of the most important experiences in their tenure as mayor.

Riley's remarks were followed by a video clip of former president Clinton presenting the award. In its citation, the awards jurors remarked that "it shows mayors how to analyze a project in terms of its long range impact, both fiscally and visually. Mayors come away from a workshop with greater confidence in their own innate design sense. At the end of the day, the Institute affects how America's cities and towns get built by educating the builders."

Conference President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles and former Conference President Joe Riley, both alumni of the Mayors' Institute, stood together with Bill Ivey, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and L. William Chapin, II, President of the American Architectural Foundation, to share possession of the official certificate presented by President Clinton. Mayor Riley also recognized Christine Saum, the Executive Director of the Mayors' Institute, for her significant contributions and dedication to the institute.

In closing, Bill Ivey challenged those mayors who have not yet attended to "bring your toughest problem to the table and our designers and architects will help you move ahead."