Joel Mills is Senior Director of the Architect Foundation’s Communities by Design program. The program has catalyzed billions of dollars in sustainable development across the United States, helping to create some of the most vibrant places in America today. Joel’s 29-year career has been focused on strengthening civic capacity, public processes, and civic institutions. This work has helped millions of people participate in democratic processes, visioning efforts, and community planning initiatives. He has delivered presentations, training content, workshops, and public processes in over a dozen countries across 5 continents.
In the United States, Joel has provided consultative services to hundreds of communities, leading participatory processes on the ground in over 100 communities across 38 states. His work has been featured in over 1,000 media stories. Joel has served on dozens of expert working groups, boards, juries, and panels focused on civic discourse and participation, sustainability, and democracy. He was a founding Board Member of the International Association for Public Participation’s United States Chapter. He has spoken at numerous international conferences concerning democratic urbanism and the role of democracy in urban success, including serving as the Co-Convener of the Remaking Cities Congress in 2013. Joel is an Academician of the Academy of Urbanism in London, UK. He is the author of numerous articles on the relationship between democracy, civic capacity and community.
Courses
Public Process Leadership in an Age of Distrust
The community contexts in which we work today are defined overwhelmingly by pervading public mistrust, conflict and controversy, and community opposition. Our urban crises – climate, housing, equitable development - are forcing quick action to avoid catastrophe. Controversy, community opposition and legal challenges pose significant and costly burdens to achieving our collective goals. This session will provide an overview of the key challenges in the field of public participation today. It will identify core components of healthy processes that can lead to more successful community outcomes with broad community support. The session will address technique selection, as well as tools, resources and networks where participants can develop skills in public participation.
This session was recorded live on March 15, 2023.
Communities by Design: Building a Global Urban Design Movement
Thursday, February 5, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
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.
DIY Design Leadership: The Urban Charrette Story
Thursday, February 12, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
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.
State and Local Mechanisms of Design Leadership
Thursday, February 19, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
The AIA was a critical partner to the early Community Design Centers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, there are dozens of community design centers across the country. The Nashville Civic Design Center represents one important model that emerged out of local advocacy efforts and has gone on to have a profound impact on the future of the city. The Minnesota Design Team embodies a Component-led model at the state level. Established in 1983, the MDT has served over 100 communities across the state, leveraging the contributions of hundreds of volunteer professionals. The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Center for Resilient Metro-Regions has partnered with Communities by Design in recent years to deliver technical assistance to 9 towns in Vermont and Massachusetts, offering another model. This session will explore comparative approaches to design leadership and volunteer mobilization to impact communities.
UK-US Contemporary Experiences with Collaborative Design & Planning
Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
Design professionals across the United Kingdom have been at the forefront of efforts to promote international adaptation of collaborative design practice since the 1980s. In 1988, a seminal joint design assistance team project took place between UK and American professionals in Pittsburgh, leading to a wave of new practice across Europe and beyond. This session will explore comparative experiences in collaborative design and planning with two leading thinkers, as well as the development of the Association for Collaborative Design. The session will share experiences with collaborative planning events from the UK and elsewhere and introduce the new Engagement Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work, a tool to promote best practice and ensure the most successful and collaborative project outcomes.