New Video Guide Provides Practical Information for Attendees at the 63rd IMCL Conference in Latvia

IMCL Board Members Michael Mehaffy and Jim Brainard traveled to Riga and Jelgava, met with mayors and staff, and confirmed venues and other final arrangements for the next timely conference in the long-running series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX_PVCiNHFY

ABOVE: The "practicalities video" showing logistics for travel, accommodation, dining and activities at the 63rd International Making Cities Livable (click to play).

RIGA AND JELGAVA, LATVIA - Michael Mehaffy, Executive Director of the Lennard Institute for Livable Cities, reports that all flights and other forms of travel are operating very smoothly in Latvia and across Europe. Mehaffy and fellow board member Jim Brainard just returned from a series of preparatory meetings in the two cities. Mehaffy also recorded a "practicalities video" showing travel logistics, hotel options, dining, and other potential activities for conference attendees.

The conference will begin on Monday, July 6th in Riga, the capital city, with a series of presentations, discussions and study tours. On Tuesday, July 7th, the conference attendees will be taken by bus to the nearby city of Jelgava and the beautiful Jelgava Palace, the venue for the bulk of the conference.

Mehaffy reports that the hosts could not be more gracious and welcoming, the cities are beautiful and fascinating, and the venues are stunning - as the video shows. Attendees are in for a real treat, he says.

For more information or to register, please visit https://www.imcl.online/latvia.

Beautiful Latvia Awaits IMCL Participants in Especially Timely 63rd Conference on Livable Cities

Urgent topics will include affordability, walkability and bikability, health and well-being, zoning code reform, financial tools and strategies, AI in planning and design, and much more

ABOVE: The House of the Blackheads, site of the opening reception of the 63rd IMCL conference. (Photo: Jorge Franganillo via Flickr.)

RIGA AND JELGAVA, LATVIA – Organizers of the International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) conference series are here to make final preparations for the next conference in the venerable series — this will be the 63rd — taking place this coming July 6-10. Executive director Michael Mehaffy and board member Jim Brainard are meeting with local hosts to tour the venues, arrange catering, confirm technical facilities, and make other preparations. 

Michael Mehaffy (left) with Riga City Architect Peteris Ratas (center) and Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (right), discussing the IMCL conference.

Mehaffy reports firsthand that flights and other logistics are operating smoothly and affordably. “This is a fantastic opportunity for incomparable professional education and growth - sharing the best lessons with city leaders from around the world, and here in Europe,” he says. “Our hosts could not be more gracious, and the two venues, in Riga and Jelgava, could not be more beautiful. In addition to the important work, we’re all in for a real treat!”

Mehaffy notes that Europeans have long been leaders in making cities livable, and at this historical moment, they are stepping into an even more prominent global leadership role. “It’s a very poignant moment to be here in Europe, and to learn and share the best lessons with our European friends and allies,” he says.

Partners in the conference will include The King’s Foundation, King Charles’ livable cities think tank, as well as UN-Habitat, HealthBridge Canada, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU), and other global leaders in livable city planning and development.

Meeting with officials from the City of Jelgava, and from the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies. L-R: Dainis Petzāls, Head of the Construction Board; Gunita Osīte, Head of the Development and Urban Planning Department; Marika Kupče, Chief Public Relations and Marketing Specialist; Jim Brainard, IMCL; Mārtiņš Daģis, Chairman of Jelgava City Council (Mayor); Michael Mehaffy, IMCL; Eva Evelīna Juse, Responsible for the conference facilities at Jelgava Palace; and Ričards Sotaks, Chief Specialist for External Relations and International Relations

Mehaffy is the former Director of Education at The King’s Foundation, and his former colleague, Foundation Senior Director Ben Bolgar, will give a keynote at this year’s conference with an update on the King’s work and that of his Foundation on creating and sustaining healthy, durable and beautiful cities, towns and countrysides. 

In addition, urban scholars from leading universities around the globe will participate, sharing the latest research on urban health, affordability, mobility, and opportunity for all.

Urgent Issues - and an Important Gathering

This year’s IMCL conference comes at a pivotal moment for cities around the world. Communities everywhere are confronting converging crises of housing affordability, climate vulnerability, declining public health, social fragmentation, infrastructure costs, and economic uncertainty. Yet amid these challenges, a growing body of research and practical experience is revealing new pathways forward — and many of the most promising lessons are emerging from the design and stewardship of more walkable, connected, resilient, and humane urban environments, in Europe and across the globe.

The splendid House of the Blackheads, a medieval guild of merchants and shipowners, full of history and beauty. The opening IMCL reception will be held here.

The Riga and Jelgava conference will bring together leading practitioners, scholars, public officials, developers, and civic leaders to explore actionable solutions to these urgent challenges. Sessions and workshops will address topics including housing affordability and “missing middle” development, urban health and social well-being, climate adaptation through urban form, mobility and public space design, heritage-led regeneration, and new implementation tools for livable urbanism.

Jim Brainard, left, and Michael Mehaffy, right, meet with Māra Liepina of the House of the Blackheads to arrange the IMCL opening reception.

Participants will examine how successful cities are translating ambitious goals into practical results, not only through technology and policy, but through the physical design and governance of neighborhoods, streets, public spaces, and civic institutions.

A major focus of the conference will be the growing recognition that urban form itself is a powerful public health tool, and also a climate mitigation tool. Researchers are increasingly documenting the links between walkable mixed-use neighborhoods and lower levels of isolation, chronic disease, stress, and automobile dependence, as well as lower greenhouse gas emissions. Sessions will explore how public spaces, human-scaled streets, green networks, and well-connected neighborhood structures can foster healthier and more socially resilient communities. This comes at a time when many cities are grappling with rising loneliness, mental health challenges, and declining civic trust.

Conference participants will also examine the accelerating global housing crisis and the barriers preventing many communities from delivering affordable, equitable, and durable housing. Discussions will focus on practical implementation strategies, including zoning reform, incremental development, adaptive reuse, mixed-income regeneration, and pattern-based approaches to creating more diverse and attainable housing options. Speakers will highlight successful case studies from Europe, North America, and elsewhere that demonstrate how cities can grow more affordably without sacrificing beauty, sustainability, or quality of life.

Another key theme will be the role of urban heritage and traditional urban patterns as sources of long-term resilience and adaptive intelligence. In a city like Riga — internationally renowned for its extraordinary architectural and urban heritage — participants will explore how historic urban fabrics embody generations of accumulated knowledge about climate adaptation, walkability, public life, craftsmanship, and human well-being. Rather than treating heritage merely as something to preserve nostalgically, the conference will examine how older urban patterns can provide the "DNA of place" to inform successful contemporary solutions for sustainable growth and regeneration.

The conference will also explore emerging technologies and their implications for humane urban development, including the growing use of artificial intelligence and digital tools in planning and design. Participants will discuss both the opportunities and risks of increasingly data-driven urban systems, and the continuing importance of human judgment, local knowledge, civic participation, and place-based design intelligence in shaping successful cities.

In addition to keynote presentations and research sessions, attendees will participate in study tours in Riga and hands-on workshops in Jelgava, engaging directly with local leaders and urban practitioners. Workshops will focus on implementable strategies for improving public spaces, retrofitting existing urban districts, strengthening climate resilience, and translating broad urban goals into workable local policies and codes.

For professionals concerned about the future of cities, the IMCL conference offers a unique opportunity — not only to learn about the latest research and best practices, but to engage directly with an international network of leaders working on the front lines of urban transformation. As with all IMCL conferences, participants will leave with practical tools, implementable strategies, new professional partnerships, and renewed inspiration for addressing the defining urban challenges of our time. In an era when many global urban goals remain stalled at the level of rhetoric, the 63rd IMCL will focus squarely on the urgent question facing cities everywhere: how do we actually deliver more livable, resilient, healthy, and beautiful urban places for all?

---

For more information or to register, visit https://www.imcl.online/latvia.

ABOVE: Excellent restaurants, gathering spots and night life in Riga.

ABOVE: The Radisson Old Town Riga Hotel, our base for the first two days of the conference.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Riga features abundant parks and waterways.

ABOVE: Jim Brainard plans out the study tour of Riga with one of our guides.

ABOVE: One of Mikhail Eisenstein's celebrated Art Nouveau buildings. Riga has the largest collection of Art Nouveau buildings in the world, with over 800 buildings - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

ABOVE: The Central Market from the boat tour — Europe's largest indoor market, with over 3,000 stalls in 72,000 square meters (778,000 square feet) of space.

ABOVE: Riga's remarkable urban fabric.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Excellent Latvian food and music will be available to enjoy — in this case, at the remarkable Ala Pagrabs Restaurant and Folk Club.

ABOVE: Jim Brainard admires the St. Simeon and St. Anna Orthodox Cathedral in Jelgava, built in 1892.

ABOVE: The Jelgava History and Art Museum of Ģederts Eliass, where we will hold an optional Awards Dinner. The building dates from 1773.

Why Livable Cities Matter Now More Than Ever: Learning from Europe and the Baltics on Cities, Culture, and Democratic Resilience

Global Urban Leaders Will Convene in Beautiful Latvia for IMCL’s 63rd International Conference on Livable Cities, July 6-10, 2026

ABOVE: The beautiful and livable cities of Jelgava (top) and Riga (bottom), offers many lessons on how to recover from disruptions to achieve a healthy and prosperous city.

By Jim Brainard, International Making Cities Livable

The upcoming International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) conference in Riga and Jelgava, Latvia, is more than a discussion about architecture and urban planning. It is also a reminder of the importance of cultural ties, democratic values, and international friendships during a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty.

For Carmel, Indiana, the conference carries special significance because Jelgava is one of Carmel’s Sister Cities. The relationship itself has an interesting history. Carmel resident Andris Bērziņš, who serves as Honorary Consul of Latvia to the State of Indiana, helped strengthen ties between Carmel and Latvia. During the ceremony recognizing him as consul, the Latvian Ambassador to the United States visited Carmel. After touring Carmel’s urbanized center — including its walkable downtown, public spaces, architecture, and cultural investments — discussions began about finding a Sister City relationship for Carmel in Latvia, and those conversations quickly led to the partnership with Jelgava.

Carmel has also played a role in the International Making Cities Livable movement over the years by hosting an IMCL conference and helping arrange another conference in Carmel’s Sister City of Cortona, Italy. These conferences bring together architects, planners, scholars, and civic leaders from around the world to exchange ideas about place-making, walkability, transportation, architecture, and civic life.

As Vice-Chair of the International Making Cities Livable conferences and former mayor of Carmel, I have had the opportunity to work with cities across the world to better understand how communities preserve identity, create meaningful public spaces, and recover from political, economic, and social disruption. These conferences are not simply academic exercises. They are opportunities to strengthen relationships between democratic nations and support traditional values rooted in civic culture, local identity, beauty, freedom, and human dignity.

That support for Latvia and the other Baltic states is especially important today because of their geographic position bordering Russia and the continuing aggressiveness of the Russian government. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia endured decades of Soviet occupation and fought hard to reclaim their independence, democratic institutions, and cultural identity. Their experience serves as a reminder that freedom, local culture, and self-government should never be taken for granted.

Jelgava itself offers an important lesson in resilience. The city was heavily damaged during World War II during battles between Nazi and Soviet forces with only a handful of buildings still standing at the end of the battle. Much of it was rebuilt during the Soviet era, often with utilitarian architecture that ignored local traditions and human scale. Yet Jelgava retained one of the most important foundations for long-term recovery: a strong urban grid and historic civic structure.

As Soviet-era buildings age and are eventually replaced or renovated, there is a tremendous opportunity to restore architectural beauty and civic character. Jelgava Mayor Rāvins once humorously remarked that Eastern Europe contains some of the “best museums of ugly Soviet architecture in the world.” Yet behind the humor lies an important truth: cities such as Jelgava now have the opportunity to gradually repair façades, improve streetscapes, and reclaim architectural traditions that reflect their own history and culture.

That process is one of the most valuable aspects of the IMCL conferences. By bringing together some of the world’s leading architects, urbanists, and planners, the conference creates opportunities for workshops and collaborative sketches that may help guide the future evolution of cities such as Jelgava. The goal is not to impose outside solutions, but to help communities strengthen their own identity and create more durable, beautiful, and human-scaled urban environments.

These same principles influenced Carmel’s own transformation through investments in walkability, public spaces, roundabouts, trails, public art, and cultural institutions such as the Palladio-inspired concert hall. The belief has always been that cities should not merely function efficiently, but should also inspire people and strengthen civic life.

The Sister City relationship between Carmel and Jelgava reflects that shared vision. Through international cooperation, cultural exchange, and the study of successful urban places, cities can learn from one another while building friendships that strengthen communities, democratic values, and cultural understanding around the world.

The International Making Cities Livable conference reminds us that cities across the world share common challenges and common aspirations. Through partnerships, cultural exchange, and thoughtful planning, communities can learn from one another while preserving the beauty, identity, and civic values that make great places endure.

I encourage those interested in architecture, urbanism, public policy, and the future of cities to join us in Riga and Jelgava for this important international conversation.

---

More information about the 63rd IMCL conference is at https://www.imcl.online/latvia.