By Nicholas Foster, MICD Program Manager
August 10, 2009

In partnership with Bank of America and the U.S. Forest Service, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) held its 44th National Session in Denver July 22–24. Hosted by Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper and the city, the event was attended by Boise (ID) Mayor David H. Bieter; Santa Fe (NM) Mayor David Coss; Las Vegas (NV) Mayor Oscar B. Goodman; Sacramento (CA) Mayor Kevin Johnson; Irvine (CA) Mayor Sukhee Kang; Mesa (AZ) Mayor Scott Smith; and Fresno (CA) Mayor Ashley Swearengin. Experts in architecture and landscape architecture, development, and urban planning joined the mayors in a discussion, offering advice on how the mayors could approach the urban design challenges facing their respective cities.

The Session commenced with a public program highlighting the civic experiences of Goodman and Hickenlooper, focused primarily around their efforts to promote and support urban sustainability initiatives within their communities. Moderated by The United States Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran and Director of Design of the National Endowment for the Arts Maurice Cox, the panel discussion also provided the mayors an opportunity to field a variety of policy-related questions from members of the audience.

Swearengin opened the working meetings by discussing revitalization plans for the Fulton Street Mall, located in Downtown Fresno. As the mayor explained in her presentation, the city is focusing its efforts on the rehabilitation of a handful of underutilized and underperforming parcels along the pedestrian mall in an effort to better serve the greater Fresno community. The resource team supported the mayor’s vision and encouraged her to further explore how the plans to revitalize the pedestrian mall link with the greater revitalization plans for Downtown Fresno.

Goodman discussed redevelopment efforts that have been proposed for a large tract of land located adjacent to the central business district, along the Las Vegas Strip. The mayor explained that the city is currently evaluating the redevelopment proposals that have been brought forward in a manner that would connect various activity nodes by means of an urban pathway. Goodman was met with a variety of design and planning solutions that the resource team offered as a means to contending with the existing, large parcels, while creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment within the study area.

Smith shared with session participants his vision to revitalize a number of underperforming parcels within the Fiesta District, located in the southwestern section of the city. The mayor elaborated on how he wished to leverage the success of several of the established businesses – located along the primary arterials of the District – and asked for guidance as to what design mechanisms could be employed to craft a sense of identity for the District. Numerous design resource team members suggested a variety of city greening techniques to assist the mayor in his efforts.

Johnson presented his city’s plans to redevelop a large tract of land located with the city’s existing rail corridor, just blocks from the city’s central business district. The mayor explained that he is seeking to create a grand plan for the corridor that would bring additional housing units, office space, and open space to the corridor – all of which would be anchored around a new, state of the art, multi-modal transit facility. Members of the resource team supported the mayor’s vision for thinking of the corridor as an integral component of the city’s downtown grid and suggested he think of big and bold plans for the corridor.

Beiter discussed a series of plans to redevelop several, large parcels located within Downtown Boise. The mayor explained that the city is eager to work with various stakeholders to produce a plan that balances the needs of private landowners with the needs of the greater downtown community. Resource team members suggested that the city consider reevaluating the relationship between the existing street grid with the current plans for the various parcels to ensure that whatever development plans do unfold, are executed in a fashion that connects the various downtown amenities with the adjacent neighborhoods.

Coss discussed his vision for rehabilitating the underutilized Santa Fe River corridor, which bisects Downtown Santa Fe. As the mayor explained, there exists a unique opportunity to better establish the river corridor as a conduit that links Downtown Santa Fe Plaza to the sections of the downtown area that are currently being revitalized. Members of the design team suggested the mayor anchor the community’s vision for a rehabilitated river corridor around beautification efforts to showcase the river as the city’s backbone for both passive and active recreational uses.

Kang shared with session participants his city’s plans to create the Orange County Great Park, which is slated to become the first great metropolitan park of the 21st Century. The mayor provided an overview of the park’s comprehensive design plans and asked members of the resource team for feedback on the current plan; including financing of the parks amenities, phasing of construction, and ways to enhance local connections with neighboring private development initiatives. Design team members expressed their support for the city’s vision for the park and suggested the mayor focus on the phasing of the project to ensure that the park’s future will not be hindered by the current, unfavorable, economic conditions.

Joining the mayors at this national session were resource team members: Matt Arnn, ASLA, NE landscape architect at the U.S. Forest Service, New York (NY); Dena Belzer, founding principal at Strategic Economics, Berkeley (CA); Paul Brophy, principal at Brophy & Reilly LLC, Columbia (MD); James Feild, real estate development executive at Bank of America, Dallas (TX); Will Bruder, AIA, president of Will Bruder - Partners, LLC, Phoenix (AZ); Aaron M. N. Crowell, ASLA, forester at the Center for Urban Forest Research, USDAFS, Davis (CA); Raymond W. Gastil, planning director of the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development, Seattle (WA); Elizabeth K. Meyer, FASLA, associate professor at the School of Architecture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (VA); and Lucinda Sanders, RLA, ASLA, CEO & partner at OLIN Studios, Philadelphia (PA).

The session was the eighth MICD national session sponsored by Bank of America. The Bank has made a sustained commitment to America’s communities — pledging $1.5 trillion in loans and investments for community development. Among the Bank’s priorities are affordable housing, economic development, and urban redevelopment projects. The first institute to be sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, the Agency’s Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) program is a cooperative initiative of the U.S. Forest Service that focuses on the stewardship of urban natural resources and responds to the needs of urban areas by maintaining, restoring, and improving urban forest ecosystems on more than 70 million acres. This U.S. Forest Service program aims to help MICD support urban sustainability and city greening efforts throughout America’s cities, a central theme of the 44th National Session.

MICD is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. To date, the program has assisted 791 mayors in transforming their communities through good urban design. MICD conducts several sessions each year. For a list of upcoming events, past attendees, or for more information, visit www.micd.org.