Mayors’ Institute on City Design Session Examines “The University and Public Design”

Mayors and University Officials to Meet with Design Professionals at the University of Pennsylvania, November 16-18

NEWS RELEASE
November 14, 2005

PHILADELPHIA — The Mayors’ Institute on City Design, one of the country’s most established city planning and design programs, is partnering with the University of Pennsylvania to host a first-of-its-kind symposium, critically examining the relationships between universities and their cities during a meeting on November 16-18.

The Penn theme "The University and Public Design: the Impact of Urban University Development in Cities" recognizes the importance of universities in defining the urban landscape, serving both the public sector and the university community by organizing and articulating the best practices and processes that recognize the value of mayors and universities working collaboratively to shape the form and design of their cities.

Mayors from Miami, Salt Lake City, Providence, Pasadena, and Bethlehem will join university leaders from major urban universities in their cities and a team of design professionals to discuss best practices and opportunities for working collaboratively to shape the form and design of their cities.

Founded in 1986, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors that seeks to transform communities by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities.

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the health and success of our universities and the communities where they reside,” said Aaron Koch, Director, Mayors’ Institute on City Design. “This Institute seeks to spur creative ideas about ways to develop stronger university-city partnerships.”

The University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution with a distinctive past, has been actively involved in the revitalization of West Philadelphia, an area that had been in decline. Ten years ago, recognizing that its continued health and success depends not just on what happens within campus, but also on the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhood, Penn embarked on a five-prong effort known as the West Philadelphia Initiatives, aimed at improving the community's educational, housing and business opportunities, retail amenities, and safety and cleanliness.

Penn has seen tremendous success in the West Philadelphia Initiatives in part because of its readiness to embrace its role as a public designer and community developer. This willingness to stand at the forefront of economic and community revitalization has made Penn a standard bearer for the impact universities can have when working in partnership with their cities and communities.

"America needs strong cities, and cities need strong colleges and universities," said Omar Blaik, Senior Vice President of Penn's Facilities and Real Estate Services and board member of the Penn Institute on Urban Research. "By involving university presidents at this conference the MICD is embracing the role of the university as a planner, developer and redeveloper of towns and cities, and helping to increase the dialogue about the importance of planning among the public and private sectors"

The following cities will be represented by their mayors and officials from leading universities in each of the cities:

Bethlehem, PA — Mayor John Callahan and Gregory Farrington, President, Lehigh University
Miami, FL — Mayor Manny Diaz, Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami and Sergio Rodriguez, VP for Real Estate, Campus Planning and Construction, University of Miami
Pasadena, CA — Mayor William Bogaard and Dean Currie, Vice President, California Institute of Technology, and Patricia Oliver, Senior Vice President, Educational Planning and Architecture, Art Center College of Design
Providence, RI — Mayor David Cicilline and Robert Zimmer, Provost, Brown University
Salt Lake City, UT — Mayor Ross Anderson and John Francis, Senior Vice President Academic Affairs, University of Utah

The design resource team consists of the following individuals:

Karen Alschuler, Principal and Director of Planning and Urban Design, Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Morris
Omar Blaik, Senior Vice President, Facilities and Real Estate Services, University of Pennsylvania
Rick Chellman, TND Engineering
Michael Dennis, Professor of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gayle Farris, President, Forest City-Science + Technology Group
Steven Foote, Principal, Perry Dean Rogers and Partners Architects
Alexander Garvin, President and CEO, Alex Garvin and Associates
John Livingston, President and COO, Tishman Urban Development Group
Dennis Pieprz, President, Sasaki Associates, Inc.
Rich Richman, Chairman, The Richman Group of Companies
Margie Ruddick, Principal, Wallace, Roberts & Todd, LLC
Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP and Chair of the Urban Land Institute

More than 650 mayors and hundreds of design professionals have attended design institutes dealing with such urban planning issues as downtown and waterfront developments, transportation, housing, schools, and public facilities such as libraries and arts centers. The Mayors’ Institute on City Design has been recognized for its contributions with the Presidential Award for Design Excellence, a Progressive Architecture Award from Architecture magazine, and an Institute Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. Additionally, a number of books have featured the work of the Institute, including “The Mayor’s Institute: Excellence in City Design,” by James S. Russell. For more information, please visit www.MICD.org.

Editors Note: While the Mayors’ Institute on City Design is closed to the media, reporters are invited to attend a reception from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, November 17, hosted by Philadelphia Mayor John Street at City Hall. Marilyn Jordan Taylor, a partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and chair of the Urban Land Institute will speak.

About the Partners of Mayors’ Institute on City Design
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today, each represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the Mayor. For more information, please visit www.usmayors.org.

The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) is a national nonprofit 501(c) (3) organizations that educates individuals and communities about the power of architecture to transform lives and improve the places where we live, learn, work, and play. Through its outreach programs, grants, exhibitions, and educational resources, the AAF helps people become thoughtful and engaged stewards of the world around them. For more information, please visit www.archfoundation.org.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts - both new and established - bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.

The University of Pennsylvania established the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) in 2004 as the authoritative source for the latest research available on urbanism in the 21st century. Through efforts such as the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, Penn IUR also provides unique and innovative opportunities for the Penn community to explore urban-focused scholarship that cuts across traditional disciplines and connects learning to real-world policy and practice. For more information, please visit www.penn.edu/penniur

Contact:
Helen Wechsler
American Architectural Foundation
(202) 626-7372

Julie S. McWilliams
Office of University Communications
University of Pennsylvania
215-898-1422
juliemcw@pobox.upenn.edu