BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar
The Past, Present, and Future of Urban Design in the Mile High City
A 15-Week Course for Denver’s leaders and emerging leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar is a special non-credit course offered by CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning specifically for Denver’s community and business leaders/emerging leaders who want to learn about the built and natural
environments and the city-building process directly from the region's top experts in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, urban design, and related fields.
The goal of the BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar is to empower participants with foundational knowledge in core city planning and design topics—using Denver as a case study—so that they can engage in shaping
Denver’s future from an informed perspective rooted in academic research and professional experience. The seminar’s limited enrollment and facilitated discussions will allow participants to directly engage with the presenters and with
each other to foster connections and build relationships.
The seminar follows a past > present > future progression where participants explore the history of Denver’s city planning and design and the various economic, cultural, environmental, and technological forces that have shaped the city, informing how best to guide Denver's future. A
special emphasis is placed on social justice and equity as a common thread across all topics and weeks.
Course Overview
What: BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar: The Past, Present, and Future of Urban Design in the Mile High City
Who: Denver’s leaders and emerging leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors
When: Join our email list to be notified when the next BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar will take place. The next seminar has not yet been scheduled.
How Many: Limited to 40 participants
Cost: (2023) Private-sector employees: $600, public-sector, and non-profit sector employees: $400
Course Details
The BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar is organized around six key city-building themes—two weeks dedicated to each—with a theme’s first week focusing on Denver’s past and present, and a theme’s second week focusing on Denver’s future. The six themes are:
- Land Use and Urban Development
- Architecture and Urban Form
- Transportation and Mobility
- Natural Environment and Public Spaces
- Civic Infrastructure and Facilities
- Housing and Community Demographics
The opening week will take a big-picture look at the history of urban development and an overview of urban design, and the final week of instruction is dedicated to city-building in the era of climate change. Each weekly two-hour session will be comprised of two 55-minute periods with a 10-minute break in between. All participants will receive PDF copies of all presented materials and access to video recordings of each week’s session.
The BUILDING DENVER Leadership Seminar presenters are all prominent local experts in urban planning and design, architecture, transportation and mobility, parks and public spaces, housing and demographics, the environment, and other city-building fields. They will share their deep knowledge, experience, and insight through a mix of presentations, case studies, and facilitated discussions with seminar participants.