Our society is undergoing a profound transformation. By mid-century, an estimated two-thirds of our global population – 6 billion people - will live in cities. Global population growth and urbanization are putting enormous stress on our civilization, fueling a host of cascading crises from climate change to housing, health to inequality. Despite the unprecedented challenges facing us, cities are uniquely positioned to serve as the hub of a global strategy to address our current crises. This series will focus on a number of key themes facing the future of our cities, offering provocative ideas about how we conceptualize our collective future and the role of design leadership in achieving global goals.  This series is intended for civic leaders, architects, and other design professionals looking to make a difference in their community. These sessions were recorded between February and May 2023. Save up to 15% when you purchase the series.

Cities across the U.S. face critical challenges in behavioral health, substance abuse, and homelessness. San Francisco is leading the way with over 20 groundbreaking projects – either in design, under construction, or recently completed – that provide new solutions, including crisis stabilization units, child and family therapy facilities, and modular buildings.  This course features experts from the San Francisco Department of Public Works, highlighting innovative new solutions for supporting the health, safety, and welfare of building occupants and the broader community. By shining a spotlight on behavioral health projects, this course will demonstrate how designers can improve service navigation, enhance connectivity, and create more effective support networks to address urgent health and housing needs. This course was recorded live on May 13, 2025.

Medical respite care is defined as acute and post-acute care for people experiencing homelessness who are too ill or frail to recover from a physical illness or injury on the streets, but who are not ill enough to be in a hospital. Every medical respite care program shares the same fundamental elements: a short-term, safe place to stay, allowing people experiencing homelessness an opportunity to rest, recover, and heal in a safe environment while accessing medical care and supportive services. These programs are a critical opportunity to provide safety and opportunity to connect with providers and services to address the many factors contributing to a person’s experience of homelessness. To attend to the safety and healing of end users, programs would do well to employ intentional, trauma-informed, human-centered design approaches that support the mental and physical health needs presented by this population. Dignified Design is one such approach that prioritizes the needs of individuals accessing and delivering services in medical respite settings through a clear framework of principles and practices. This webinar will provide an overview of medical respite programs, their role in communities, and how the field of architecture can contribute to these programs through a Dignified Design approach, which centers the needs of people experiencing homelessness. This session was recorded live on August 12, 2025.

This session explores the vital role of sound in shaping healthy, sustainable, and inspiring built environments. Drawing on research in indoor environmental quality (IEQ), behavioral science, and biophilic design, it examines how acoustic design influences human well-being, productivity, and social connection. Participants will discover how to integrate acoustics seamlessly with aesthetics, using evidence-based strategies and real-world case studies to create spaces that are not only visually compelling but also sonically supportive. This session was recorded live on October 28, 2025.

This 4-part series will explore the dramatic story of architect-led community change and its lessons today, as well as comparative models and approaches to design leadership that mobilizes engaged architects for community transformations. “We are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet,” noted United Nations General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés in 2019. Today’s climate crisis means our cities and towns serve as more than simply the hubs of economic and cultural vitality. In an era of climate change, our communities represent the central organizing mechanisms for the survival of humankind. This reality positions communities at the heart of our solutions to all the world’s most pressing issues, from the affordability crisis to a climate-friendly future. However, at the time we urgently need effective decision-making, a democratic crisis is contributing to political paralysis, controversy and loss of public trust in institutions the world over. Professionals must adopt a new democratic orientation that empower citizens to codesign solutions. Member surveys have demonstrated in the past that over 75% of architects believe community engagement to be important. We can’t afford to sit on the sidelines now. The stakes are too high. It’s time to recommit ourselves to public service, jump start the democratic process, honor the citizen architect tradition and galvanize the next wave of design leadership in our communities. This series is intended for civic leaders, architects, and other design professionals looking to make a difference in their community.

Communities by Design (CxD) brings together volunteer professionals and citizens to build strategies that solve the most pressing issues facing the places we call home. CxD represents one of the most impactful investments ever made in communities by the profession and one of the largest sustained investments ever made in urbanism. The program has a five-decade track record of demonstrated success with tens of thousands of volunteers and citizens working hand in hand to benefit communities. Today, the initiative encompasses direct work in over a dozen countries across 5 continents, including communities in 47 US states. The outcomes have created international renown for places like the Pearl District in Portland, Santa Fe’s Railyard District and East Nashville. Several Kemper Award winners have emerged from the program as well. It has profoundly impacted how our profession approaches communities, with its methodology widely adapted to fuel thousands of additional processes and a global participatory urban movement in recent decades.  Along the way, the program has influenced future Presidents and Kings, the Olympic Games and a spectrum of institutions. This session will focus on the core elements of the methodology that have made the program so impactful.   This session was recorded live on February 5, 2026.

Health care buildings are often defined by popular, income-generating spaces—patient rooms, operating rooms, imaging rooms, and grand public spaces. These rooms create an image that is presented to patients and the public and thus define the character of the building. But what about the other required spaces that are essential to the building’s functions? Without attention to detail, the failure to design these spaces properly will result in a building that is inefficient for users and costly for operators. Join presenters to look at the successes and failures of back-of-house rooms in health care buildings and learn how their design can impact your next project.  This course was recorded live on December 12, 2024.

In April 2007, two graduate architects founded The Urban Charrette as a response to what they saw as disappointing city leadership around the built environment in Tampa. The organization convened emerging professionals across the city to discuss its future. The Urban Charrette was described as “a guerrilla movement in its approach to influencing urban development,” because it utilized innovative tactical urbanism, social networking and unconventional formats and interventions to push change. Its impact on the city over time was undeniable. The volunteerism and public service work also helped launch careers and gave voice and then influence to its core members, who have become civic leaders across the city and points beyond. The Urban Charrette provides a quintessential example of grassroots design leadership and creative problem-solving where new civic mechanisms can provide breakthrough ideas for positive change. This session was recorded live on February 12, 2026.