Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD)

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Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD)

The Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for

06/02/2026

Mayors, join MICD for a breakout session at the 94th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, held June 4-7 in Long Beach, CA. Come learn more about the technical assistance and leadership development programs available to mayors at no cost, all geared towards helping you harness your role as “chief urban designer” of your city. MICD staff will also introduce the new Guide to Governing for Design Excellence, which offers concrete advice for structuring your administration and city processes to get the results you want from planning and development projects.

See you in Long Beach!

United States Conference of Mayors National Endowment for the Arts

03/25/2026

For 40 years, MICD has championed a bold idea: mayors are the chief urban designers of their cities.

Since 1986, we’ve partnered with more than 1,200 mayors to help turn that vision into action, shaping communities that are more livable, resilient, and vibrant.

As we mark this milestone, we’re excited to launch our new Principles for City Design Leadership alongside the Guide to Innovative RFPs - the first in a growing suite of tools designed to support mayors and city leaders in this work.

This is just the beginning. In the months ahead, we’ll be sharing new resources, case studies, and stories from leaders across the country putting design leadership into practice.

Learn more about the Principles and download the resources: https://zurl.co/ocP15

United States Conference of Mayors
National Endowment for the Arts
Urbanism Bureau

10/30/2025

"What we learned at MICD and at the Just City Mayoral Fellowship continues to affect not just how we plan this project, but the way we plan around our entire city."

The 2026 Just City Mayoral Fellowship is accepting expressions of interest through November 17. Learn more about the Fellowship experience from a mayors' perspective: in a recent project update, Allentown, PA Mayor Matt Tuerk, a 2024 Fellow, shared his experience with the Just City Mayoral Fellowship, and how the program helped shape valuable street safety and economic development initiatives for residents. Read the full update on our website at https://zurl.co/gdAoo.

Mayors, submit an expression of interest in the 2026 Just City Mayoral Fellowship at https://zurl.co/jGSsM.

United States Conference of Mayors
Harvard Graduate School of Design
City of Allentown

10/07/2025

Mayors, you’re invited to express interest in the 2026 Just City Mayoral Fellowship.

The Just City Mayoral Fellowship is a program of the United States Conference of Mayors and the Just City Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in partnership with the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, and with support from The Kresge Foundation. This unique and highly interactive program brings together a small group of mayors to directly tackle injustices in each of their cities through planning and design interventions.

This year’s Fellowship will focus on moving local projects forward in a time of constant change and uncertainty — specifically, how cities can maintain a vision of equity, address injustice, and advance the design and development of more just cities while responding to shifting resources, capacities, and constraints.

The call for expressions of interest is open through 11/17. Learn more on our website: https://zurl.co/2YrQE

United States Conference of Mayors
The Kresge Foundation
Harvard Graduate School of Design

08/28/2025

How do other cities structure the financing, governance, and long-term care of their public spaces? Our recent virtual seminar examined how parks and civic spaces move from idea to implementation: who funds them, who governs them, and how they’re maintained over time. Drawing from 27 built projects across nine U.S. cities, this seminar highlighted real-world capital strategies, administrative models, and the trade-offs different cities navigate.

While the live event was open to mayors and senior city staff only, the presentation portion is now available at https://zurl.co/FyAkk

United States Conference of Mayors
National Endowment for the Arts

08/25/2025

What happens after MICD? At the 77th National Session of MICD in 2023, Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson of Riverside, CA (population 315,000) sought advice on revitalizing an underutilized historic building in her city’s most prized park. Located just outside downtown Riverside, the Armory is a historic 12,000-square-foot building originally used for National Guard storage. Its location at the edge of Fairmount Park – a grand, 250-acre, Olmsted-designed park – gives the Armory the potential to serve as a welcoming gateway into the park and the adjacent Santa Ana River.
During the MICD session and follow-up guidance through MICD Alumni Advising, a group of design and development experts helped Mayor Lock Dawson channel her dreams for the space into actionable next steps. In particular, advice from award-winning landscape architect Elizabeth Kennedy stuck with her: to end up with a successful, beloved project, let the vision develop organically from the community. The city went on to pivot its engagement strategy, hosting multiple open-ended listening sessions inside the Armory building rather than collecting feedback on a list of ideas for specific uses.

This pivot led to a larger narrative about why this space is so important to the people of Riverside and what residents hope the project will bring to the community – which attracted significant funding and led to a successful RFP for a community partner who will soon transform and activate the building.

Read the full story and lessons for city leaders at: https://zurl.co/PNSIZ

City of Riverside, CA - City Government
City of Riverside - Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson
United States Conference of Mayors
National Endowment for the Arts

08/05/2025

Many thanks to the design leaders who made the 81st National Session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Providence, RI last month such a success. This cohort of experts in architecture, landscape architecture, arts and culture, transportation, urban planning, and real estate and economic develpment introduced mayors to the many facets of the design process, and illustrated how design can generate creative solutions to complex problems.

Many thanks to the design leaders in attendance:
+ Alexa Bush | City of Detroit | Detroit, MI
+ Eric Höweler | Höweler + Yoon Architecture | Boston, MA
+ Robin Hutcheson | Hutcheson Advisory | Minneapolis, MN
+ Stephen Klimek | Towerside Innovation District | Minneapolis, MN
+ James Lima | JLP+D | New York, NY
+ Christopher Marcinkoski | PORT Urbanism, UPenn | Philadelphia, PA

Read the full press release on our website: https://zurl.co/Ssp6r

United States Conference of Mayors National Endowment for the Arts

08/04/2025

At the 81st National Session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design in Providence, RI, a cohort of mayors and design leaders collaborated on pressing design and development issues, addressing a wide array of challenges and opportunities through improvements to the built environment. Participants left with strengthened aspirations and a new set of tools for leading with design. Take a look at these highlights from three days of collaboration and inspiration.

Many thanks to the mayors in attendance:
+ Mayor Brett P. Smiley | Providence, RI (Host)
+ Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft | Alameda, CA
+ Mayor Daniel Rickenmann | Columbia, SC
+ Mayor Molly Rawn | Fayetteville, AR
+ Mayor Mark Freeman | Mesa, AZ
+ Supervisor Chris Barnett | Orion Township, MI
+ Mayor Rita Ali | Peoria, IL
+ Mayor Janet Cowell | Raleigh, NC

Read the full press release on our website: https://zurl.co/LdTfl

United States Conference of Mayors National Endowment for the Arts City of Providence

07/10/2025

This month, Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley will host the 81st National Session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design.

As the 39th Mayor of the City of Providence, Brett Smiley has prioritized improvements to the local quality-of-life issues that matter most to the Providence community. Since taking office, he has made strategic investments in public safety, housing, education and climate resiliency and is working to make City Hall a center for high-quality services. By focusing on the issues that have a tangible impact in every neighborhood, Mayor Smiley is putting Providence on a path to becoming the best-run city in America.

Under his leadership, Providence is addressing systemic challenges like affordable housing and climate change with data-driven solutions while also making meaningful infrastructure improvements to the city’s sidewalks, roads, parks and greenspaces.

Mayor Smiley graduated from DePaul University and lives on Hope Street with his husband, Jim DeRentis. Both Brett and Jim are avid runners who share a deep love for Providence.

Many thanks to Mayor Smiley and the City of Providence for hosting this amazing session!

(Text content borrowed from the City of Providence website)

United States Conference of Mayors National Endowment for the Arts Mayor Brett Smiley City of Providence

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Washington D.C., DC

Telephone

+12024631391

Website

http://micd.org/

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