Prove It: Indiana Communities Gather in Columbus to Learn Together What Makes Quality of Place Last
Harvard's Maurice Cox, rural design leader Courtney Spearman, and U.S. Senator Todd Young join four Indiana communities and all fifteen READI regions in Columbus October 8–10 to kick off a two-year Learning Partnership with the State of Indiana
Columbus, Indiana — Indiana is investing in quality of place at a scale the state has never seen. In October, a state-led partnership will gather communities and representatives from every Regional Economic Acceleration and Development (READI) region in Columbus to work on a shared question: how will we know what investments have worked and what’s next?
Civic Design Institute (CDI), a program of Landmark Columbus Foundation, will host Prove It: A National Summit on Design Excellence as Civic Practice, October 8–10, 2026, at The Commons in downtown Columbus. The Prove It Summit will launch the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership, produced in partnership with Indiana Governor Mike Braun and the State of Indiana through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Indiana Arts Commission (IAC). The Summit brings civic leaders, designers, researchers, funders, and policymakers together to test a single proposition: design excellence is a civic discipline that can be defined, measured, and practiced by any community willing to do the work.
The Summit opens October 8 with a free public keynote built as a conversation between two design leaders whose work spans America’s largest cities and its smallest towns and indigenous communities. Maurice Cox, Emma Bloomberg Professor in Residence of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, led planning for Detroit and then Chicago through a decade of urban reinvention. Courtney Spearman directed rural design programs at the National Endowment for the Arts and now leads Fieldwork at Building Common Ground, working with rural and Tribal communities on projects rooted in local culture. Moderated by Daniel Luis Martinez, Program Director of Indiana University's J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program in Columbus, the conversation takes up the question at the heart of Prove It: what design excellence is for, and whom it serves, in a big city and in a small town. This conversation rarely happens in one room, and it is meant to open the Summit’s questions rather than settle them. U.S. Senator Todd Young will offer remarks, and Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon will welcome.
"Indiana has done the hard part, which is deciding to invest in place. Now, the even more difficult part is knowing, a decade from now, which of those investments created lasting cultural and economic value and why. None of us has that answer yet," said Richard McCoy, Executive Director of Landmark Columbus Foundation. "Columbus has been asking the question of itself for more than eighty years and is still learning. Our Prove It Summit brings four communities in conversation with Columbus alongside every READI region, and national design leaders together to work on it."
Launching the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership
The Prove It Summit launches the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership in Columbus, a two-year effort led by Civic Design Institute (CDI). The Learning Partnership is produced in partnership with Indiana Governor Mike Braun and the State of Indiana through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Indiana Arts Commission (IAC).
Four Indiana communities will join Columbus as the Learning Partnership’s founding cohort, including: Michigan City, Muncie, Rushville, and Terre Haute. Each will send a five-person delegation to Columbus with an active design challenge from its own downtowns, neighborhoods, or public spaces. On October 9, the delegations will work on those challenges with one another, with Columbus, and with national faculty in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and economic development.
Two representatives from each of Indiana’s READI regions are invited to attend with travel support, so that what the cohort learns reaches every corner of the state from the first day and every region can help shape what comes next. Indiana’s READI program is a $1.25 billion investment in regional-led strategies designed to strengthen local quality of life, community development, and talent retention and attraction. Prove It Summit working sessions on October 9 and 10 are open to the delegations, READI representatives, and invited professionals in design, planning, and economic development.
The work continues after the Summit. Columbus hosts first; through 2028, each of the four partner communities will host the cohort in turn, allowing the group to advance its projects with peers and technical experts while documenting evidence and lessons that other Indiana communities can use.
“Indiana is making historic investments in regional strategies, community development, and quality of place through READI,” said Indiana Governor Mike Braun. “These developments are already taking shape across the state as we celebrate groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings that are bringing to life new affordable housing, parks and trails, community programs, and more. As we look toward the future, we’re focused on leveraging data to measure the economic impact of these investments and create a framework for what comes next.”
To learn more about the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership, visit civicdesigninstitute.org/learning-partnership.
Why Columbus
For more than eighty years, Columbus has earned international recognition for the way civic leadership, philanthropy, business, architecture, and art have worked together to shape the city. Civic Design Institute (CDI) treats that record as evidence to learn from, including its mistakes. Columbus is a useful place to examine how design excellence operates as a civic practice because the decisions and their consequences are visible and can be walked in its downtown.
CDI defines design excellence as civic practice: making decisions about the built environment with rigor, care, and accountability to the long-term public good. Its framework of six Civic Conditions offers communities a way to examine their own decisions over time. The Summit is the first chance to test it alongside the delegations' projects and see what holds.
"We are proud that Columbus can serve as the gathering place for this statewide and national conversation. Our community has long understood that investing in the places we share is an investment in people. Welcoming mayor-led delegations from four Indiana communities and representatives from all fifteen READI regions gives us the chance to share what we have learned while continuing to learn alongside them," said Mary Ferdon, Mayor of the City of Columbus.
To learn more about Design Excellence as Civic Practice, visit civicdesigninstitute.org/design-excellence.
What Comes Next
Civic Design Institute will publish what it produces: a summary memo will follow shortly after the event closes and a draft framework, including a starter set of indicators for measuring quality of place in Columbus and the partner communities, will follow. The indicators are a starting point for the cohort to revise together over the next two years.
“We have worked a long time on design excellence in Columbus, and the most meaningful results come from sustained collaboration, thoughtful decision-making, and a willingness to invest for the long term,” said Tracy Haddad, Board Chair of Landmark Columbus Foundation. “This Summit gives us a chance to share that experience while learning from communities across Indiana that are working through their own opportunities and challenges.”
Attend
The Prove It Summit takes place October 8–10, 2026, at The Commons, 300 Washington Street, Columbus, Indiana. The October 8 keynote is free and open to the public; register at eventbrite.com/e/prove-it-keynote.
Visit Columbus, Indiana and the City of Columbus will sponsor the keynote.
Interested in the full Summit? Seats in the working sessions are limited and by invitation. Community leaders, design and planning professionals, funders, and organizations interested in the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership may write to Beth Hughes, Director of Civic Connections, at beth@landmarkcolumbus.org.
To learn more, the full program, speaker and design faculty biographies, headshots, and fact sheet on the Learning Partnership are available at civicdesigninstitute.org, and available for download at this link.
For Press
To learn more, the full program, speaker and design faculty biographies, headshots, and fact sheet on the Learning Partnership are available at civicdesigninstitute.org, and available for download at this link.
Press Contact
Jamie Goldsborough
Creative Director, Landmark Columbus Foundation
jamie@landmarkcolumbus.org
Hope Orono
Director of External Affairs, Indiana Economic Development Corporation
hoorono@iedc.in.gov
About Landmark Columbus Foundation
Landmark Columbus Foundation (LCF) exists to demonstrate what design excellence can mean to a community, earned through discipline, proven in public, and cared for as a legacy for the future. landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org
About Civic Design Institute
Civic Design Institute (CDI) is Landmark Columbus Foundation's platform for advancing design excellence as civic practice. Through research, convenings, partnerships, and publications, the Institute develops shared knowledge about how communities make and sustain better decisions about the built environment. civicdesigninstitute.org
About the Office of Commerce
The State of Indiana’s Office of Commerce was created by Governor Mike Braun to align and accelerate the state’s economic development efforts and is led by Indiana Secretary of Commerce Chuck Goodrich.
About Indiana Economic Development Corporation
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) is part of the State of Indiana’s Office of Commerce created by Governor Mike Braun to align and accelerate the state’s economic development efforts. Led by Indiana Secretary of Commerce Chuck Goodrich, the IEDC aims to increase jobs and wages for Hoosiers through initiatives and programs focused on business and industry, entrepreneurship and innovation, community investment and talent. iedc.in.gov
About Indiana Arts Commission
The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) is an agency of state government that works directly with communities, creatives, and organizations to harness the power of creativity to strengthen Indiana. Through its programs and services, the IAC funds and supports arts experiences, arts education, and the arts economy to enhance the quality of life for Indiana's people and places. in.gov/arts
About Visit Columbus
Visit Columbus is the destination marketing organization for Columbus and Bartholomew County, promoting the area as a welcoming destination for leisure travel, meetings, sports, group tours and events. Through marketing, partnerships and destination development, Visit Columbus works to strengthen the local visitor economy and enhance the community’s quality of place. columbus.in.us
About the City of Columbus
Columbus, Indiana, is a city of about fifty thousand people in south central Indiana and the seat of Bartholomew County. Known internationally for more than eighty years of civic investment in architecture, landscape, and public art, the City of Columbus works with residents, businesses, and community partners to sustain a downtown, parks, and public realm that serve the people who live and work there. Mary Ferdon is the city's thirty-eighth mayor. columbus.in.gov
