As the Executive Director of the Forum for Urban Design (now the Urban Design Forum), a non-profit based in New York City, I spearheaded the Forum’s second “bike sharing” pilot project, a relatively unknown concept in New York at the time. Covered by The Architect’s Newspaper and The New York Times, this week-long event garnered the support of Janette Sadik-Khan, then NYC’s transportation commissioner, who went on to champion CitiBike, the largest bike sharing system in the country.
The Forum for Urban Design provides a platform for architects, landscape architects, planners, policy-makers, activists, developers, investors, academics and journalists to discuss and debate urban design’s best practices. I was responsible for organizing two major conferences annually, as well as more intimate luncheons, lectures, pilot projects and a design competition. I also oversaw the development of the organization’s new website and the production of multimedia content. The Forum was founded by Daniel Rose, and has a distinguished board of directors including Deborah Berke, James Corner and Paul Goldberger, among others.