Design Publications

Creative Placemaking
by Ann Markusen, Markusen Economic Research Services, and Anne Gadwa, Metris Arts Consulting: A white paper for The Mayors' Institute on City Design, a leadership initiative on the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors and American Architectural Foundation. NEA 2010. 77 pp.

See Markusen's presentation of the report to the National Council on the Arts.

The Mayors' Institute on City Design
The Mayors' Institute on City Design is one of the Endowment's most-heralded yet little-known programs. This 24-page brochure provides a thorough overview of the Institute, including an overview by founder Joe Riley, an urban case study, testimonials from program alumni, and a listing of all Institute participants over its eighteen-year history. 24 pp.
  

Schools for Cities: Urban Strategies
Sharon Haar, editor
In March of 2000, the Mayors Institute convened a special session at the University of Illinois to investigate how schools can operate as catalysts for community redevelopment. This book, an outgrowth of that session and the public forum that followed it, contains essays and design projects that demonstrate the value of school-building to neighborhoods and the value of design to school-building. 103 pp.

Sprawl and Public Spaces: Redressing the Mall
David Smiley, editor
In acknowledgement of the rapidly growing number of dying and abandoned shopping centers and malls across the U.S., the NEA and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars jointly sponsored this conference in February, 2000. The resulting book contains essays by Robert Fishman, Margaret Crawford, and other leading thinkers on urban and suburban culture, as well as new shopping designs by Michael Rotondi, SHoP, and Hargreaves Associates. 105 pp.

Mayor's Institute: Excellence in City Design
James S. Russell, editor
Founded in 1986, the Mayors' Institute is a program that turns mayors into design advocates by bringing them together with top designers in intensive three-day sessions. The history of this program is best described in another NEA document, "The Mayors' Institute on City Design." In contrast, this booklet was created as a resource for mayors, but is of equal interest to anyone concerned with the creation of more livable cities. It offers guidance on using architecture, landscape architecture, art, urban design, and planning to improve the public realm. 124 pp.

University/Community Design Partnerships
Jason Pearson, author
A significant number of NEA design grants are awarded to programs in which universities engage in community outreach and designing buildings and landscapes for and with the neighborhoods that surround them. The often compelling work of these partnerships inspired this collection of essays and projects that includes work from Design Corps, the Yale Urban Design Workshop, and Sam Mockbee's Rural Studio. 121 pp.

Your Town: Mississippi Delta
Shelley Mastran, editor
In addition to the Mayors' Institute, the NEA is the principle funder of Your Town: The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design. This popular program has convened four workshops annually since 1991 to help smaller communities preserve their character in the face of economic and social change. One such workshop took place in November, 2000 in Cleveland, Mississippi, and focused on the traditionally African-American communities of Mound Bayou, Jonestown, and Clarksdale. This booklet contains an overview of the event, relevant essays, and design case studies from two of the communities visited. 54 pp.

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