Miami Architecture School’s New Goal: Building Community
(as reported in the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Newsletter, Spring 2000, Issue No. 44, p.1)

Pick up the real estate section of any major newspaper and you’ll see colorful ads for new residential developments right next to news articles decrying suburban sprawl. Everywhere, the dichotomy is painfully evident.

Communities across the nation are challenged to plan more wisely for future growth. Cities and towns have to balance the needs and concerns of residential development, economic growth, transportation, environmental protection and quality-of-life issues such as historic preservation.

The University of Miami School of Architecture, internationally known as a center for research, practice and teaching focused on the concepts of New Urbanism and "smart growth," will use a $2.1 million Knight Foundation grant to develop a national center to provide professional development for community planners and journalists.

The new program, developed by the architecture school under the leadership of Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, will address critical urban development issues with a four-part strategy to educate professionals in the principles of effective community building.

The initiative will include scholarships for a post-professional Master of Architecture degree program in suburban and town design; a new mid-career certification program in community building for local planning administrators, journalists and community leaders; an annual symposium; and a national advisory board of prominent academic, business, community and professional leaders from across the country.

Grant funds will support development of the program on community building, recruitment of the first groups of participants and full program operation for two years, according to A. Richardson Love Jr., Knight Foundation’s director of education programs.

"This new program comes from a world-class institution guided with visionary leadership in community planning," Love said. "Knight Foundation has long supported mid-career professional development programs in journalism, and we’re now expanding to another discipline that plays an equally important role in contemporary American society."