Joseph P. Riley Jr., who led the highly successful revitalization of Charleston, South Carolina, during his 40-year tenure as mayor, has agreed to serve as ULI’s first distinguished visiting fellow. Riley, who stepped down as mayor on January 8, is also working as a visiting professor at the Citadel—the Military College of South Carolina, serving as the first holder of the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Chair of American Government and Public Policy in the department of humanities and social sciences. His term at ULI, which began on March 1, will last one year.
As a distinguished visiting fellow, Riley will offer expertise for several of the Institute’s areas of focus, including affordable and workforce housing, sustainable development, improving overall community livability, and public sector leadership in land use decision making.
Riley, the longest-serving mayor of a major U.S. city, was the first recipient of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, which recognizes a person whose career demonstrates a commitment to the highest standards of community building. He was awarded the prize in 2000 to honor his significant contribution to Charleston’s renaissance and his national leadership on urban design and community revitalization issues.
In the decades following Riley’s election as Charleston’s mayor in 1975, the city achieved a substantial decrease in crime, revitalized its historic downtown district, created a highly successful waterfront park, increased its supply of affordable housing, and experienced dramatic growth in its Spoleto Festival U.S.A., a world-class arts festival held each spring. Each of these achievements was made possible through the use of innovative public/private partnerships cultivated by the mayor.
A former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Riley is nationally renowned as an expert on urban design and livability issues. He was a founder of the Mayor’s Institute for City Design and has provided visionary advice and counsel on urban design and development issues to hundreds of mayors across the United States.
Riley’s responsibilities at ULI will include participating in several of the Institute’s major convenings, informing ULI’s research on various aspects of community building, and making contributions to Urban Land, the Institute’s flagship publication. “We are very fortunate to have Mayor Riley offering us his considerable wisdom on building communities that are prosperous, resilient, and highly livable,” says Patrick L. Phillips, ULI’s global chief executive officer.
“Through his leadership, Charleston achieved an urban revival that has set the standard for many cities throughout the United States, and which demonstrates how the public and private sectors can work together to advance the common good. Mayor Riley is a tireless and persuasive advocate of enlightened urban development policies and practices.”
