The International Making Cities Livable Council is an interdisciplinary, international network of individuals and cities dedicated to making our cities and communities more livable.
IMCL Council members are active in organizing and participating in the International Making Cities Livable Conferences held twice a year, once in North America and once in Europe; in publishing books, consulting, teaching, and improving the livability of their own cities.
The principles of the IMCL Conferences, initiated in 1985, have become part of a national US agenda, and are being applied by many cities in Europe and other parts of the world.
The IMCL Conferences bring together city officials, practitioners and scholars in architecture, urban design, planning and urban affairs, public health, social sciences and the arts, from around the world to share experience and ideas.
Together with other urban conferences, the IMCL Conferences share a concern with issues ranging from balanced transportation planning to community participation, from historic preservation to new ecological housing and development plans.
However, the IMCL Conferences are unique in their holistic vision of the city, their emphasis on the interrelationship between the built urban environment and citizens' well-being, and their explicit concern with values in urban decision making that enrich the quality of everyday life of the city's inhabitants, especially children.
At the IMCL Conferences special attention is paid to the indispensable role of public spaces for connecting the city's inhabitants and developing community. Guiding these Conferences is the conviction that we must make our cities not only ecologically sound, but also socially sustainable.