By Aaron Koch, Mayors Institute on City Design Acting Executive Director
March 31, 2003

A special meeting of the Mayors' Institute on City Design took place March 6-8 at Harvard University in Cambridge (MA). The event, organized by Harvard's Graduate School of Design with funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), focused on strategies for housing design, development, and policy. Over the three day event, five mayors were joined by a renowned group of architects, developers, and housing experts to determine how their cities can implement successful housing initiatives.

The event kicked off with a public lecture at the Harvard Design School by Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. In addition to the event participants, a large group of students and faculty heard Mayor Riley discuss his work with the Mayors' Institute on City Design and his successful urban design and development efforts in his home town.

Five mayors from around the nation participated in this special session. Each mayor presented a specific project within their city for direct feedback from the assembled team of design and development experts. Dallas Mayor Laura Miller sought ideas on how her city should proceed with development and financing for the re-use of downtown industrial buildings for housing. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin presented the challenge of redeveloping an area of public housing near the major commercial section of Canal Street. El Paso Mayor Raymond Caballero received strategies on how to construct housing in a newly vacant lot near his city's downtown. Brockton (MA) Mayor John Yunits questioned how the development of neighborhood infill housing near his city's center could succeed. Finally, participants shared concepts on how Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano could lead the redevelopment of a residential neighbEvent participants were also greeted by Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino at a reception following a tour of Orchard Gardens, a development of the Boston Housing Authority completed under HUD's Hope VI program. Menino stressed the importance of providing quality housing for all citizens and pointed to Orchard Gardens as a model. This project is the result of a successful public/private partnership that transformed an undesirable housing project into a livable community.

Event participants were also greeted by Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino at a reception following a tour of Orchard Gardens, a development of the Boston Housing Authority completed under HUD's Hope VI program. Menino stressed the importance of providing quality housing for all citizens and pointed to Orchard Gardens as a model. This project is the result of a successful public/private partnership that transformed an undesirable housing project into a livable community.

The mayors worked with an experienced group of housing experts throughout the three day event. Participating experts included: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies; Alex Krieger, Chairman of Harvard's Department of Urban Planning and Design; Andrew Altman, Director of City Planning for Washington, DC; Peter Werwath of the Enterprise Foundation; Elinor Bacon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for HUD; James Stockard and Deborah Goddard from Harvard's Loeb Fellowship Program; and architects Leland Cott, Max Bond, Kathy Dorgan, and Julie Eizenberg.

The Mayors' Institute on City Design is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, established in 1986 and carried out in partnership with the US Conference of Mayors and the American Architectural Foundation. This unique program has brought together over 600 mayors with a diverse group of design and development professionals since its inception. The goal of the Mayors' Institute is for mayors to return to their cities with greater insights on how they can implement solutions that will improve the quality of life in their cities. Mayors who are interested in participating in one of these events should contact the Mayor Institute's Acting Executive Director, Aaron Koch, by phone at 202-463-1390 or email to micdinfo@micd.org. Additional information on the Mayors' Institute on City Design is available through links at usmayors.org or at micd.org.