During Mayor **Karl Dean**'s tenure, the City of Nashville experienced an extraordinary construction boom, as it worked to expand public transit, connect neighborhoods, and strengthen the city's brand. What can the Boston region learn from Nashville's efforts? Can cities outgrow their identities, and how do architects and city planners work together to develop new brands? **Geeta Pradhan**, President of the Cambridge Community Foundation, addresses these questions with Nashville's former Mayor Dean, the first Mayor in Residence at the Boston University Initiative on Cities. Their conversation touches on issues of equity, access, and exploring the relationship between civic goals and the physical city.
Karl Dean served two consecutive terms as Mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County from 2007 until 2015. During his years in office, Mayor Dean worked diligently to improve Nashville’s quality of life by promoting health, sustainability, community development, and volunteerism. In addition to serving as the first Mayor in Residence at the Boston University Initiative on Cities, Mayor Dean is also BU’s Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science. He teaches a course called The Contemporary American City: Challenges and Opportunities.
Geeta Pradhan is Director of the New Economy Initiative at the Boston Foundation and co-developer of the Boston Indicators Project. She co-authored the 2000 and 2002 Boston Indicators reports, The Wisdom of Our Choices and Creativity and Innovation: A Bridge to the Future. At the Boston Foundation, Geeta also developed and launched The New Economy Initiative a special five year effort that uses networking, constituency building and grant making to reduce the digital divide and to empower young people, adults and nonprofit organizations to compete effectively in the 21st century.