Civic Design Institute
The Civic Design Institute is LCF’s intellectual platform and the primary means through which the organization works with communities beyond Columbus. It defines and teaches what design excellence as a civic practice means, and gathers, clarifies, and publishes what that practice produces over time.
Its work is grounded in Columbus’s civic record and organized around six Civic Conditions: the specific, interdependent prerequisites that allow design excellence to take root and repeat across generations and leadership transitions. Those conditions are: Civic Stewardship and Institutional Capacity; Community Connection and Public Trust; Cultural Identity and Shared Meaning; Everyday Public Life and Belonging; Long-Term Civic and Economic Value; and Communities Worthy of Commitment.
Prove It
A National Summit on Design Excellence as Civic Practice
Save the Date
October 8–10
Columbus, Indiana
This first-of-its-kind event will convene civic leaders, thinkers, researchers, designers, and funders 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. It will also seek to measure and define quality of place in collaboration with 2–3 partner communities.
Featured Projects
Monumental Gestures
Monumental Gestures is an Indianapolis-based initiative of Landmark Columbus Foundation, led by Artistic Director Sarah Urist Green. It transforms public spaces through ambitious art experiences that invite conversation, amplify voices, and celebrate histories.
Current projects include: The Monument Knows—A Mellon Foundation-supported project reimagining the civic life of Monument Circle in Indianapolis. It includes a custom AI model enabling the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to share layered histories with the public, a Public Realm Plan developed with Merritt Chase, and the From Object to Obligation public conversation series. Indy Riverfront Plan—A framework vision for the White River corridor, developed for the Capital Improvement Board and Visit Indy. Indianapolis Cultural Trail—A public art plan for the trail, focusing on Washington Street.
Learn more at the website monumental-gestures.org.
Downtown Entrance Plaza
The City of Columbus Redevelopment Commission partnered with Columbus Design Institute to initiate an RFP process to redesign the Downtown Entrance Plaza, a 1.5-acre plaza at the city’s most prominent entrance into downtown. The circular plaza was originally designed by Michael VanValkenburgh and Associates in 2000.
Following a formal interview process with a shortlist of landscape architects, the Redevelopment Commission selected Indianapolis-based landscape architecture firm Merritt Chase.
The project's goals are to transform the landscape into a more desirable space, collaborate with local partners and adjacent projects, improve key design features and connectivity, and ensure the project’s integrity and universal accessibility.
In 2025 the project became led by the City of Columbus.
Read the full press release about the project announcement here.
Mill Race Park Gateway
This project significantly enhanced safety and aesthetics by narrowing the roadway, installing a median, planting trees and landscaping, and installing public art. The transformation of this vital corridor fosters enjoyable, safe, and accessible walking, wheeling, and biking connections between Downtown, Mill Race Center, Mill Race Park, and the ColumBus Transit Hub.
This was made possible with the support of City of Columbus, Columbus Area Arts Council, Columbus Regional Health Healthy Communities Initiative, and Landmark Farm Foundation.
The gateway features Flamenco, a bright red steel sculpture created by artist Ruth Aizuss Migdal (2010). Learn more about Flamenco and its history in Columbus in this article by The Republic Newspaper.
Former Projects
Indiana Main Street: Mayors’ Workshop 2021
Inspired and supported by the Mayors’ Institute of City Design, Columbus Design Institute (CDI) hosted an online workshop with five mayors from the State of Indiana. This three-day workshop focused on the challenges cities are experiencing on their Main Streets or in their Downtowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, while looking optimistically towards a safe, post-COVID-19 era next summer.
Indy Design Week 2020: Homeworks
Columbus Design Institute created Homeworks to provide thoughtful responses to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic through the a series of conversations with academics, designers, and community practitioners. Over the course of four days, conversations focused on: Social Connectivity, Public Space, Home Life, and Food Systems.
16 Tech is an urban innovation district under development in the historic Riverside neighborhood and within the Indiana Avenue Cultural District on the northwestern edge of downtown Indianapolis. Columbus Design Institute provided design advisement on the RFQ/RFP process to identify an excellent team to build a $14.5m bridge that will be completed by end of 2023.
Mayors’ Institute on City Design
The Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Columbus Design Institute was selected to host a regional session with six mayors and eight design experts from across the country for a Regional Session in October 2019.
Together with People for Urban Progress and with the support of the Cummins Foundation, Columbus Design Institute produced a four-part monthly conversation series in Indianapolis to bring together national and local thought leaders around the topic of inclusive design. The complete series was made into four part podcast.
With support from the Lilly Endowment’s Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation initiative, Columbus Design Institute partnered with the Central Indiana Community Foundation to run an international design competition to create a transformative public space at the General Motors Stamping Plant site in downtown Indianapolis.