Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory hosts 2010 Mayors’ Institute on City Design West

Who
The Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory (PURL), a program in the ASU Herberger Institute School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

What
The Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory (PURL), is a program of the ASU Herberger Institute School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which focuses on sustainable urban design and development. On March 10–12, PURL hosts the 2010 western regional session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD), on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

ASU previously partnered with MICD in 1999 to host a session of the Mayors’ Institute. The MICD is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. Since 1986, the MICD has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. The MICD achieves its mission by organizing intimate, closed-door sessions where mayors engage leading design experts to find solutions to the most critical urban design challenges facing their cities.

This MICD session brings together eight mayors of mid-sized western cities with a panel of eight nationally recognized urban design and development professionals. Each mayor presents an urban design challenge from his or her city for the other mayors and designers to discuss. The March 10–12 session’s projects encompass a wide range of urban-design issues, from preparation for sea-level rise associated with climate change, to downtown revitalization, to public art.

This session’s participating mayors are: Marie Lopez Rogers from Avondale, Ariz.; Don Davidson from Bellevue, Wash.; Bob Crowell from Carson City, Nev.; Linda Kochmar from Federal Way, Wash.; Bob Murphy from Lakewood, Colo.; Tammy de Weerd from Meridian, Idaho; Keith D. Curry from Newport Beach, Calif.; and Doug Mah from Olympia, Wash.

Participating designers associated with ASU include: Darren Petrucci, director of the ASU Herberger Institute School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Joseph Ewan, assistant director of the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Kurt Creager, director of ASU’s Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture; Kevin Kellogg, ASU’s Urban Laureate and principal at Kellogg and Associates. Also on the resource team panel are: Samuel Assefa, LEED AP, principal, Phoenix Sustainable Asset Management, Chicago, Ill; James Charlier, AICP, president, Charlier Associates, Boulder, Colo.; John Kaliski, AIA, principal, Urban Studio, Los Angeles, Calif.; and Nancy Rottle, RLA, ASLA, associate professor, College of Built Environments, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

When
March 10–12

The School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University offers a holistic approach to design, blending teaching and research in a forward-thinking environment. Our more than 1,600 students are challenged to think creatively about architecture, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, urban design and visual communications design. The school also houses InnovationSpace, a transdisciplinary research and educational laboratory that unites design, business and engineering. Phoenix and the Southwestern desert’s extreme environmental conditions provide an innovative laboratory for teaching and applied research. To learn more, visit:http://sala.asu.edu.

Media Contact:
Aaron Rothman 
Project specialist
ASU Herberger Institute 
School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory
480.727.8853
Aaron.rothman@asu.edu