Public Spaces and places are essential infrastructure that makes our cities livable. Besides providing space for essential transactions, our public spaces express our history, values, and future vision. The best spaces bring us together to share culture and diverse backgrounds while celebrating our shared values. Design unleashes the potential for public space and architects can foster community and inspire progress. Design is our superpower. As an introduction to this presentation, there will be a panel discussion with Colorado-based professionals who work for local jurisdictions on macro-level urban design and visioning. In particular, they will discuss how they establish goals with local organizations and elected officials that are then developed and implemented by planning departments.  Presented in partnership with AIA Colorado.

This session will center around the events that occurred before and after the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, in 2021. Discussion will include the ongoing intensive analysis by forensic investigators to determine a root cause, or causes, of the structural failure. Examine how this tragedy will affect our current and future legal and business operations for years to come. Understand how failure analysis is a part of our ongoing learning experience as architects. Course expires 06/25/2026

Building codes are designed to protect people; and thus building to code may not provide the level of property protection your clients want. This in-depth course offers a solution. You’ll learn how to unpack the level of protection building codes offer so you can best identify—and design for—resilience gaps. Through case studies and expert interviews, you’ll review how recent advances are reducing vulnerability, including lessons learned from past disasters, stretch codes, and performance-based codes. You’ll also review the full scope and limitations of the building code and how codes address the impacts of potential hazards for any region. Finally, you’ll learn how rating systems can complement, reinforce, or extend the provisions of local codes. This course is part of the AIA Resilience and Adaptation Series, a multi-course series that provides you with the tools and knowledge you need to design for resilience. Take all of the courses in this series to earn a certificate of completion. This course is sponsored by Owens Corning

This course will discuss how stresses such as a lack of affordable housing and social isolation make communities more vulnerable to shocks, and how resilient design and community engagement can influence the social and economic resilience of a community. Through examples and case studies, this course will demonstrate how an individual project can extend benefits beyond its borders with best practices for engaging communities and addressing the interdependencies that make communities more vulnerable to shocks. In addition, this course will discuss the many important roles the “citizen architect” may play in a community which contribute to community resilience. This course is part of the AIA Resilience and Adaptation Series, a multi-course series that provides you with the tools and knowledge you need to design for resilience. Take all of the courses in this series to earn a certificate of completion. This course is sponsored by Owens Corning

Learn how to conduct vulnerability assessments in new and existing buildings using a step-by-step process to make informed decisions about retrofits, renovations, and repairs to reduce damage from any hazard. The course begins with an overview of vulnerability concepts and terminology, defining the link between vulnerability and potential damage to existing or new buildings. Its main focus, however, is guiding architects through a 10-step all-hazards vulnerability assessment methodology that has been developed, tested, and used by experts in architecture and design. Using a case study and real examples, this course shows you how to apply each step in the process. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to conduct a building vulnerability assessment with your design team, leverage that assessment to inform your hazard mitigation strategy, and be confident about the benefits of incorporating resilient design features into your projects. This course is sponsored by Owens Corning

Every year, AIA members collectively earn 1.35 million hours of CE—this course provides a proven framework for developing impactful courses that engage AIA members and meet their learning needs. You’ll learn how to conduct an informal needs assessment, develop clear and measurable learning objectives, and write compelling course descriptions that attract and engage learners. Tailored to both new and experienced education providers, this course thoroughly explains AIA’s CE requirements and equips you with the strategies to enhance learner engagement and professional impact. Through real-world examples, you’ll gain a clear understanding of how to differentiate between LU|HSW and LU|Elective courses and why HSW credits are particularly valuable. By the end of this training, you’ll have the confidence and skills to build high-quality courses that resonate with learners, fulfill AIA requirements, and support the professional growth of architects.

The United States Army is one of the largest landowners in the United States, encompassing 79 installations that cover over 5 million acres. The Biden Administration and the Secretary of Defense recognize climate change as the most serious threat to both military readiness as well as being a good steward of the lands under their care. The goal is to create a digital platform for military installations that integrates and displays site, facility, and utility data from numerous disparate sources. The result is to facilitate climate resilience planning, siting of facilities and infrastructure, and decrease energy and water use to meet new federal climate change mandates and improve the quality of life for military personnel, their families, and civilian employees.  The Army Corps of Engineers is creating a digital planning platform (PLANNER) to facilitate siting of buildings and other facilities to be more sustainable, improve climate resilience, and integrate smart technologies to make Army installations "smart cities", as well as encompassing the surrounding communities. Our desire is to gain additional input and ideas from attendees to make PLANNER a more robust tool to improve the climate resilience of military bases, families, and communities.  Course expires 01/18/2026

The office setting is a meeting place of people from diverse backgrounds, rich in culture and lived experiences. Employers and employees must find ways to continue to celebrate and uplift diverse voices while challenging xenophobia and unconscious bias head on. In this session, panelists from academia, AEC-affiliate industries, and architecture firms will discuss how to cultivate belonging in the workplace. Our panelists will pull from AIA’s most recent research study, “An Investigation into Bias in the Architecture Profession,” which reveals data on racial and gender-based bias in architecture.   

Learn the essential skills and insights needed to develop effective team leadership and cultivate positive team dynamics. Understand the six essential characteristics of team excellence that distinguish high-performing teams from average ones so you can analyze individual roles and nurture the key traits that drive successful teamwork. Plus, dive into the major impact employee engagement can have on team performance—learning actionable strategies to boost engagement and motivation among your team. Assess the influence of team dynamics on productivity and performance and acquire practical techniques to optimize these dynamics, ensuring that your team works cohesively towards shared goals. Course expires 04/06/2027

The Davidson County Metro Criminal Justice Center offers a mission-driven approach to detention, diversion, and treatment in downtown Nashville. This session will present the description of the need, process, and design of the new Davidson Criminal Justice Center and Behavioral Care Center by HOK. The new facility for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) provides an opportunity to evaluate prisoners’ emotional and psychological needs at the early stages of processing, and includes spaces for therapy. HOK’s contemporary design blends the often competing missions of security and treatment.  Course expires 12/07/2025

In recent years, the climate crisis has placed decarbonization at the top of the urban agenda. While cities across the world have created climate action plans and pledged ambitious emission reductions, recent research has revealed that many jurisdictions are struggling to develop implementation strategies to meet those targets. This session will identify some of the common gaps in current city approaches and highlight innovative work happening at the local level that may provide broader guidance to community decarbonization strategies across the country. Participants will gain an understanding of the current context for this work and promising practices that may inform they own work.  This session was recorded live on February 22, 2023. 

Local, state, and federal government projects, especially those located in low income areas, often try to include features targeted to improve the local community. The area immediately surrounding a new government building or campus is taken into account during the design process. This webinar will focus on three urban projects: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Ariel Rios Federal Building in Washington, DC; the Department of Homeland Security Campus in Washington, DC; and the City of Chicago Joint Public Safety Training Center in Chicago, IL. The speakers will discuss how each project met health, safety, welfare, sustainability, and energy requirements while also contributing positively to their local communities.  Hosted by the Building Performance Knowledge Community (BPKC). Course expires 9/30/2026 This session was recorded live on November 8, 2023.

A century of constructing zoning laws in America has resulted in illogical, disconnected, and homogenous built environments that are not environmentally or economically sustainable. Yet we keep hoping that doing much of the same will yield different results. This course examines how deconstructing zoning leads to more economically sustainable development outcomes.  Produced in partnership with AIA|DC Course expires 10/17/2026

By helping owners understand the tensions and alignments between their organization’s decision-making profile and different types of project delivery methods, the Building Owner's Assessment Tool (BOAT) empowers project managers to understand their organization, to reflect on delivery methods, and to onboard project team members with an understanding of and create strategies to address roadblocks and pain points during project delivery.  Discover how you and your clients can leverage this new tool to foster productive collaborative conversations, identify organizational challenges, set shared expectations, and design specific processes to address challenges.  The Building Owner’s Assessment Tool was developed by the University of Washington with support from the Charles Pankow Foundation, AIA Project Delivery Knowledge Community, Integrated Project Delivery Alliance, P1 Consulting, and Chandos Construction.   This course was recorded live on October 30, 2024.

Dive into the work of UNA Barbara e Valentim—a São Paulo-based studio focused on enhancing public and private spaces for better collective and individual life. Discover the diverse cultural and environmental issues in the Global South and how São Paulo's architects, planners, and iconic projects have helped shape the modern architecture movement globally.  Explore and be inspired by designs that exemplify refined materiality, climate adaptation, contemporary construction methods, and a respectful relationship with natural surroundings, with projects ranging from residential buildings to large facilities and public spaces. You’ll learn how architects in different contexts address current habitation issues and how regional design approaches are interpreted at various scales—enriching your understanding and perspective on global architecture and design.   This session was recorded live on September 18, 2024.

This presentation highlights how design and construction can come together to create a stunning structure, such as the new Johnson County Kansas Courthouse. The panel will showcase how design excellence can be achieved through the design-build delivery method. Course expires 03/27/2026

This interactive self-paced course introduces the Design for Equitable Communities principle of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence. It includes perspectives from planners and architects on how to create more equitable places through design processes and strategies. The Design for Equitable Communities principle provides architects and design professionals guidance on how to enter every project ready to listen to and elevate the voices of those who are most impacted by the spaces they create. This course provides examples from the field as to how others are already creating more equitable outcomes through architectural practice. These outcomes include creating spaces where everyone can actively participate in the envisioning, design, and creation of projects. Focusing on inclusivity through participation can help reduce the inequity that exists between communities, encourage self-determination, and improve the quality of life for everyone. Course expires on 10/4/2026.

Many companies claim to have a great culture, but what does that really mean and how do you measure it? With today’s war for talent and drive for EDI+B, no workplace is immune to the care and feeding of firm culture. In this session, Lisa Brothers, PE, ENV SP, LEED AP BD+C, president and CEO of Nitsch Engineering—a company with an award-winning culture—joins Ruth Lund, co-founder of True North Culture Advisors to discuss the role that intentional, values-driven cultural development plays in the overall strength and sustained performance of organizations. You'll learn how this approach is uniquely beneficial in driving equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDI+B) efforts within an organization. This session will share statistics and stories that showcase the importance of taking charge of your organization’s culture rather than letting it drive itself; highlight how leaders can measure the reality of the culture through values, beliefs, and behaviors; and demonstrate an effective process for managing and measuring the cultural evolution of any given organization. By the end of this session, you'll learn how this intentional approach to building and maintaining an organizational culture can help companies achieve EDI+B goals (including sharing seven ideas for how to integrate EDI&B at work), become more high performing, and develop long-term corporate resilience, particularly as it relates to the challenges of the new hybrid/remote work environment. And, perhaps most importantly, how an intentional culture directly results in highly engaged employees who continue to keep the culture alive! Course expires 10/22/2026

Join the AIA Regional & Urban Design Committee for a series exploring sustainability practices at the intersections of natural and man-made systems. The absence of green space in our cities has not only affected local and global ecosystems but has also negatively impacted human health and wellness. Our connection with nature affects the way we think, live, work, and navigate the world we live in. Our future, more than ever, relies on how we continue to grow and adapt within nature. This panel seeks to analyze the philosophical and practical implementation of biophilic design within our cities and explore how it has and can continue to be used as a tool to positively impact the health of our communities.   Course expires 7/11/2026 This session was recorded live on August 3, 2023.

Accessibility, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, often appears to be an unsightly afterthought to fulfill the letter of the law. However, when access is intentionally built in the plans, the design can be functional, accessible, and beautiful! Through this presentation, attendees will learn how the principles of accessible design can be attractive and at the same time beneficial in all design contexts. Creating beautiful design that everyone can enjoy changes lives, as it opens vast opportunities that were once closed to many.