The three-day gathering in Columbus brought together local leaders and national design experts to share ideas, examine community challenges, and begin a two-year learning partnership focused on design excellence and quality of place.
Keynote conversation, Daniel Luiz Martinez, Maurice Cox, and Courtney Spearman.
Columbus, Indiana — Civic leaders, designers, and administrators from across Indiana gathered in Columbus, October 8–10, for Prove It: A National Summit on Design Excellence as Civic Practice, marking the launch of the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership. Hosted by the Civic Design Institute (CDI), a program of Landmark Columbus Foundation, the three-day Prove It Summit brought together national design leaders, representatives from Indiana's fifteen READI regions, and delegations from five Indiana communities to explore how thoughtful decisions about the built environment can strengthen civic life and improve quality of place.
The Prove It Summit marked the beginning of a two-year collaboration among Columbus, Michigan City, Muncie, Rushville, and Terre Haute. Developed in partnership with the State of Indiana through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Indiana Arts Commission (IAC), the Learning Partnership will bring these communities together to share knowledge, examine local challenges, and develop approaches to improving quality of place that can be adapted by communities throughout Indiana.
Columbus hosted this inaugural gathering, drawing on its more than 80-year legacy of architecture, design, and civic investment. Rather than presenting Columbus as a model to replicate, the Prove It Summit offered an opportunity to explore how communities can strengthen quality of place within their own local contexts.
The event opened with a free public keynote featuring remarks by U.S. Senator Todd Young and a conversation with national design leaders Maurice Cox and Courtney Spearman. Over the next two days, participants engaged in community presentations, walking tours, and collaborative working sessions to examine local challenges, exchange perspectives, and consider how design excellence can inform decisions about the future of their communities. The keynote was supported by Visit Columbus, Indiana and the City of Columbus.
What We Learned: Prove It Summit Observations & Outcomes
Throughout the Prove It Summit, participants considered how communities establish shared priorities, make thoughtful decisions about their built environments, and sustain those commitments over time. Each city brought its own active civic project, and the working sessions surfaced questions that cut across all five.
Several themes recurred:
Public trust comes first: authentic engagement, small wins, and low-cost demonstrations that test an idea before a community commits to a major investment.
Connectivity matters in two ways, linking a community’s physical assets and strengthening the connections between people.
Good places work on a random Tuesday afternoon, not only during signature events, so design should serve daily use.
Design excellence can attract new residents and visitors, but communities must plan and care for the people already there, including business owners, artists, teens, and older adults.
The basics, from shade and street trees to public restrooms, deserve attention before anything else.
Vacant lots and empty storefronts, often seen as problems, are opportunities to reclaim space for public life.
These themes will shape the Learning Partnership’s first year of work.
"Columbus is the proof that design excellence is a civic practice, something a community earns through decisions made again and again over decades,” said Richard McCoy, Executive Director of Landmark Columbus Foundation. “The Prove It Summit started with a simple idea: those decisions a community makes can be learned. Our partner communities brought real projects and hard questions to Columbus, and over the next two years we will work through them together. We will all learn together."
What's Next: A Two-Year Learning Partnership
While the Prove It Summit marked the first gathering of the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership, the work will continue through 2028. Over the next two years, participating communities will take turns hosting the cohort, offering opportunities to experience each place firsthand, examine local projects, and continue the conversations initiated in Columbus.
“The energy throughout the Prove It Summit was remarkable. Bringing together leaders from five Indiana communities created an opportunity to exchange ideas, ask important questions, and explore new possibilities,” said Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon. “The conversations reminded us that every community has something to share and something to learn. We were proud to welcome our peers to Columbus and look forward to continuing this work together over the next two years.”
The Civic Design Institute will document and share findings from the Prove It Summit, beginning in November with a summary of the gathering. Subsequent work will include a framework for understanding quality of place and an initial set of indicators that participating communities can use to evaluate progress over time.
Through continued collaboration, research, and shared learning, the partnership aims to build a stronger understanding of how design excellence can support Indiana's communities, strengthen local leadership, and inform future investments in the places people call home.
Learn More
To learn more about the Indiana Quality of Place Learning Partnership and the Civic Design Institute, visit civicdesigninstitute.org/learning-partnership.
Photographs and additional materials from the Prove It Summit are available for download at this link.
Press Contact
Jamie Goldsborough
Creative Director, Landmark Columbus Foundation
jamie@landmarkcolumbus.org
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
