By Kay Scrimger and Jess Wendover
May 21, 2007

Led by Past President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr., who is the founder of the Mayors Institute on City Design (MICD) in the United States, a U.S. Conference of Mayors delegation comprised of Stamford (CT) Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, Meridian (MS) Mayor John Robert Smith, and Executive Director Tom Cochran, in partnership with the American Architectural Foundation, conducted the first international MICD in Warsaw, Poland, May 4-11.

The American Architectural Foundation’s team included Ron Bogle, President and CEO of the American Architectural Foundation; Jess Wendover, Director of MICD; and three designers—Alex Garvin of Alex Garvin and Associates; Mary Margaret Jones, Hargreaves and Associates Landscape Architects; and David Lee of Stull and Lee.

“The United States Conference of Mayors has been closely involved in the history of this democracy,” Cochran said, outlining the almost twenty years the Conference of Mayors has worked with the mayors of Poland.

“In 1989, during the first democratic elections held in this nation, I was honored to be asked to serve as an election observer. After the elections, the Conference of Mayors, held Mayors’ Leadership Institutes in Warsaw, Cracow, and Rzeszow, Poland in October 1990. We worked with the new mayors of Poland to exchange information about urban challenges and best practices for meeting those challenges.

“With the encouragement and assistance of Ambassador Victor Ashe, U.S. Ambassador to Poland since June, 2004, the Conference of Mayors fielded mayoral missions to Poland in 2004 and 2006.

"In our discussions with the Mayor of Warsaw and the Warsaw City Architect in 2006, the idea was born of holding a Mayors Institute on City Design in Warsaw in which U.S. and Polish Mayors could vigorously exchange ideas about their design challenges.

“We are very appreciative of Ambassador Ashe’s support for this Institute and for the outstanding work of his Embassy staff in Warsaw and that of the Consulate in Krakow,” Cochran said.

Founder of MICD and mayoral dean of design issues in the United States, Riley emphasized, “the lasting opportunity of mayors for the physical shaping of cities.”

“As mayors, we must use purposeful and thoughtful design in our cities to bring about an environment in which every citizen’s heart can sing and in which all of our citizens can enjoy an environment that is reposeful and inspirational,” he said.

It is imperative to “put people first,” to pay heed to the ways to make public spaces, such as planting scented vines and jasmine in Charleston’s parking lots, and nurturing and making beautiful the “little spaces.” It is our “public policy imperative to take care of the precious heirlooms we have inherited and to ensure that we design our cities so that they offer peace and beauty to all our people,” Riley said.

In the opening session, Ashe praised MICD concept. “This collaboration on city design strengthens the long'standing ties between the United States and Poland,” he said. “Warsaw was devastated in World War II, about ninety percent of the city destroyed and most of its population fleeing. The city has rebuilt, restored itself, and recovered. This Institute is an important collaboration for the mayors of Poland and the United States.

“We appreciate the years of effort that the Conference of Mayors has dedicated to the relationship between U.S. and Polish mayors. Both our nations are better for that cooperation,” Ashe said.

The U.S. delegation began with a tour of downtown Warsaw, led by a local urbanism expert. The tour visited the Museum of the Rising, several former industrial sites that have been converted to new uses, a contentious soccer stadium slated for redevelopment, and Warsaw’s Old Town district.

The tour gave the three U.S. mayors and three American designers an opportunity to absorb the urban design issues that Polish local leaders are facing. “The Polish cities are hoping to integrate the history and culture that are so rich there into thriving downtowns,” Smith said. Members of the U.S. delegation learned about economic development strategies employed in Polish cities, and also saw the extent of the devastation that the urban fabric of Warsaw suffered during World War II.

The formal meetings began May 7. These meetings were organized in partnership with the Union of Polish Metropolises, an association of the twelve most populous cities in Poland. In addition, several mayors of smaller communities were invited to the session, mostly based on previous contacts with Ashe, who has traveled extensively in Poland and regularly meets with mayors there. Representatives of over two dozen Polish mayors’ offices attended the meeting.

After Cochran delivered introductions of the American delegation and described the purpose of the trip, Ashe expanded on the role of local democratically elected leaders in shaping the urban landscape. He explained that democratic local elections are a relatively recent phenomenon in Poland. Riley opened the meeting with a keynote address on the value of design in cities. He illustrated his thoughts with images of Charleston’s redeveloped waterfront and affordable housing developments.

The two-day meeting was broken down into three topic-based panels. Each panel included a U.S. mayor with extensive background in the topic, an American designer in that field, and a Polish urban design case study, presented by a local leader and designer.

The first panel related to “Preserving Historic Fabric in the City,” and included a presentation from landscape architect Mary Margaret Jones of San Francisco. She advised the mayors present to consider the environmental and cultural contexts of open spaces in their cities.

The next presentation was from Zemla Thomasz, acting Chief Architect for Warsaw. He presented an ongoing urban design challenge for the city: the redevelopment of the “Royal Route” that leads into Old Town. After showing proposals for cultural projects and public improvements along the street, he asked the U.S. mayors and design experts for input on the complex problem.

Following the first panel discussions, Polish mayors asked Riley about funding tools and methods his city used in historic preservation. The Poles also inquired about local control over streets and transportation networks. American and Polish mayors shared their frustrations with the mixture of federal, state, and local control over streets that pass through their cities.

The second panel dealt with “Public and Cultural Facilities.” The discussion of this topic began with a walking tour of Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science site. Dr. Ewa Grochowska from the City Architect’s office in Warsaw presented an overview of the history of proposals for redeveloping the plaza surrounding this Stalinist tower. The American mayors and designers engaged in a lively debate with the local experts about the relative merits of deferring or overpowering the building with new additions to the plaza like the planned Museum of Modern Art.

Smith addressed cultural facilities planning in Meridian (MS) by showing several projects undertaken with his administration’s leadership. He showed several rehabilitated buildings in downtown, including the historic Opera House, and advised the Polish Mayors to think comprehensively about downtown fabric. Smith’s presentation was followed by New York planner Alex Garvin, who discussed strategies for re-connecting urban dwellers to natural environments in the city.

The third and final panel covered the subject, “Adaptive Re-Use and Economic Development in Former Industrial Properties.” Malloy presented case studies of several projects in Stamford (CT) that are contributing to the revitalization of downtown and an adjacent former industrial district. Boston architect David Lee presented his firm’s work in former industrial neighborhoods and also addressed design work in rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

After an introduction to the city of Pozna by Deputy Mayor Jerzy Stempien, the group discussed a design project in that city. Andrzej Nowak, City Architect of Pozna, presented revitalization plans for Stary Browar, a former brewery. The group engaged in a vigorous discussion of tools for historic preservation.

MICD is a joint program of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Architectural Foundation that educates city leaders on design policies and techniques. The program was founded in part by Riley in 1986. When Riley traveled with a previous Conference of Mayors delegation to Poland, he met with the City Architect of Warsaw and discussed the possibility of bringing Polish and American mayors together to share examples of good urban design projects and methods. Riley observed that Polish leaders are relatively new to capitalism and are seeking advice on how to guide urban development.

President [Mayor] of Warsaw Thanks U.S. Delegation for Design Institute

The U.S. delegation and the Polish mayors participating in MICD were also invited to a reception at the residence of Ashe. Also attending were members of the Polish Parliament, business leaders, and other elected officials from Warsaw and the surrounding area.

The President [Mayor] of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, elected in November 2006, attended the reception. In her remarks, she noted strong ties between the Polish and American people and recalled a moment in her studies in music as a young girl when a delegation of U.S. mayors visited the conservatory. She congratulated and thanked the U.S. delegation of mayors and architects for holding the design institute in Warsaw.

The delegation of U.S. mayors and architects traveled to Krakow to study the architectural design of a city that, unlike Warsaw, was largely intact through and after World War II. An outstanding local architect, Elzbieta Myczka, accompanied the group on a tour of Krakow, ending in the Main Market Square of the city. This square is the largest medieval town square in Poland and reputedly in all of Europe. “It is considered to be one of the finest urban designs of its kind,” according to the guidebook Lonely Planet, Poland, 2005 edition.

The delegation also visited the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a subterranean world of labyrinthine passages, giant caverns, underground lakes, and chapels with sculptures and chandeliers carved from salt. No longer mined today, it was worked for 900 years and offers the opportunity to view ancient mining processes and equipment.

The delegation also visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum about an hour’s drive from Krakow. The camp began its operation on June 14, 1940, when the first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived. Over the following years, the camp was expanded. Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, gypsies, Catholic priests and others were brought to the camp.

In 1942, the camp became in the site of the greatest mass murder in the history of humanity. The number of victims of Auschwitz in the years 1940-1945 is estimated at between 1,100,000 and 1,500,000 people. The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1970.

The delegation laid a memorial wreath at the Wall of Death in remembrance of those who suffered and died in all concentration camps and for their families and friends who grieved for them.

The U.S. mayoral delegation also placed a memorial wreath at the Memorial of the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw in honor of the brave men, women, and children who fought for Warsaw during the Uprising.