Seven mayors from cities in the Western United States participated in the Mayors' Institute on City Design: West hosted by the College of Environmental Design. The program is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The institute offers a select number of city leaders the opportunity to increase their knowledge of urban design and explore ways to revitalize their cities.

The mayors are brought together with a resource team of designers and development experts to examine a broad range of design ideas and city improvement strategies.

Each mayor presents a case study of a critical issue facing his or her city and discusses alternative approaches and creative solutions.

At the most recent institute, mayors came from Culver City, Santa Clara and San Leandro; Farmington and Roswell, N. M.; and Federal Way and Wenatchee, Wash. A Monterey County supervisor also participated.

The institute, created by the NEA in 1986, is conducted through cooperative agreements with Berkeley's College of Environmental Design and Harvard's Graduate School of Design.

Background material is prepared by faculty from the college's interdisciplinary Urban Places Design Group and graduate students.

Berkeley faculty participating in the recent institute included Dean Harrison Fraker, Allan Jacobs, Michael Southworth and Randolph Hester. Alan Plattus of Yale, Anne Vernez-Moudon of the University of Washington and USC Professor Robert Harris were also on the team.