Since the late 1990s, the National Endowment for the Arts, under the direction of Mark Robbins, has been promoting design excellence through an ambitious series of symposia, best-case design studies, and prototype projects. The results of these programs are documented in a series of publications, each focusing on design in the public realm and the potential for innovative architecture, landscape architecture, and planning.
The book contains essays and current projects to demonstrate ways in which schools can serve as institutions that contribute to a vital civic life.
