By Jeff Speck
March 28, 2005

America's cities are changing every day. Cities improve or worsen as a result of many intersecting forces, but if any one person has the ability to lead this change-or at least exert an influence-it is the mayor.

One of the best unheralded programs of the National Endowment for the Arts is the Mayors- Institute on City Design. For almost twenty years, this group has been putting mayors together with designers to rethink the shape of their cities. After 18 months working with this program, a number of design truisms that I once understood mostly in theory have become painfully obvious in practice. That many of these items are common sense does not alter the fact that mayors every day make decisions large and small that violate them outright. So, for mayors who want to make better places, and for the citizens who want to help, I offer the following five City Design Resolutions.

1. Design Streets for People. What attracts people to cities? For most, it is the public realm, with the vibrant street life that phrase implies. A successful public realm is one that people can inhabit comfortably on foot. Unfortunately, most cities today still allow their streets to be designed by traffic engineers who ignore the real needs of pedestrians. For example, parallel parking, essential to protecting people on the sidewalk, is often eliminated to speed the traffic. Every aspect of the streetscape, including lane widths, curbs, sidewalks, trees, and lighting can be designed to the needs of either cars or people. Too many cities favor the former.

2. Mix the Uses. Another key to active street life is creating a 24-hour city, with neighborhoods so diverse in use that they are occupied around the clock. Eating, shopping, working, socializing-these activities are mutually reinforcing and flourish in each other's presence. Moreover, many businesses such as restaurants and health clubs rely on both daytime and evening traffic to cover their rent. When considering the future of any city district, the first step should be to ask what uses are missing. In many downtown areas, the answer to that question is housing, and cities from Providence to San Diego can point to new housing as a big part of a recent turnaround.

3. Save That Building. How many buildings do we need to tear down before we learn our lesson? Almost every city that deeply regrets the 1960s destruction of its 1900s structures is happily permitting the 2000s destruction of 1940s structures. Need the march of time only confirm our current ignorance? Historic preservation may be our best way to respect our ancestors, but it is justified on economic terms alone. Miami Beach and Savannah are two of many cities that can point to historic preservation as the key ingredient in a recent boom. It isn't always easy to find a productive use for an empty old building, but tearing it down makes that outcome impossible. In these cases, remember the old adage: "don't do something; just stand there!"

4. Build Green. People have been talking about sustainable architecture for decades, but that movement has finally hit the tipping point with the advent of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED standards. There is no longer any excuse for not building green. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and the standards allow a building to become certified as sustainable in terms of its resource use and interior health. Chicago and Seattle are two of many cities that now require all municipal buildings be LEED certified. Does yours?

5. Don't Forget Beauty. Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. reminds us that cities should be places that make the heart sing. For many of our citizens, especially those too poor or infirm to travel, the city is an entire world. For this reason, it is our responsibility to create and maintain cities that not only function properly, but also afford moments of beauty. Yet how many communities today routinely award to the lowest bidder their contracts for schools, parks, and government buildings, the only investments that belong to us all? In the interest of short-term parsimony, we cheat ourselves out of an honorable public realm and a noble legacy. This did not use to be the case, and it need not continue.

Cities are the largest and most complex things that we humans make. Despite evidence to the contrary, the knowledge exists on how to make them well. To the mayors-and citizens-who want to create better places: please start here.

City planner Jeff Speck is director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversees the Mayors- Institute on City Design. He is the co-Author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. The Mayors- Institute on City Design is a program of the NEA, U.S. Conference of Mayors and American Architectural Foundation.