American Roundtable is a new initiative to present on-the-ground perspectives on the designed environment—human settlement at all scales—from communities throughout the United States. The landscapes we live in are being transformed by changing economic drivers, new patterns of mobility, and the impacts of climate change, creating ever harsher extremes: from ascendant, prosperous places flourishing in the information and services era, to declining, vacant cities and towns that have not recovered from the disappearance of manufacturing or the industrialization of agriculture. This program offers perspectives from small to mid-sized urban, suburban, and rural communities, across differences of place and current fortune, on how changing local environments are experienced and perceived; how current challenges are defined; and how responses to these challenges are formulated and executed. In the inaugural round, reports from nine communities are shared in digital and print publications alongside complementary thematic discussions and public programs.

As executive director of The Architectural League, Rosalie Genevro leads the organization's work to nurture excellence in architecture, design, and urbanism and to stimulate discussion and debate on critical issues. The League carries out its work through live and digital programming, publishing, design studies, commissions, and exhibitions. Genevro conceived the digital project Worldview Cities, to deepen understanding of cities not well covered by the mainstream press, and the online magazine Urban Omnibus, to make accessible and vivid the innovation and creativity around urban issues taking place in New York. She received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015. She is a member of the NY Committee of the Regional Plan Association, is cochair of the Design Working Group of the NYC Justice Implementation Task Force, and is a frequent juror and peer reviewer for architecture awards, schools, and government agencies.

Mario Gooden is a partner in the firm of Huff + Gooden Architects and a faculty member at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). His work examines architecture and the translation of cultural landscapes defined by the parameters of technology, race, class, gender, and sexuality. He is the editor of Global Topologies: Converging Territories (GSAPP Print On Demand, 2012) and the author of Dark Space: Architecture, Representation, Black Identity (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2016). Originally from South Carolina, he received his BS in design from Clemson University and an MArch from Columbia GSAPP. Gooden serves on The Architectural League's board of directors and is cochair of the American Roundtable advisory committee.

Lyn Rice founded Lyn Rice Architects (now Rice+Lipka Architects) in New York in 2004. Rice, together with Astrid Lipka, directs the studio, which strives to engage the public with memorable works that address normative issues unconventionally, and that bring an energetic mix of civic-mindedness and personal engagement to a range of building, planning, art, and cultural research projects. He teaches at Columbia University’s GSAPP, where he earned a master's degree in advanced architectural design. Rice serves on The Architectural League's board of directors and is cochair of the American Roundtable advisory committee.

Robert Greenstreet is an architect and dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and serves on the American Roundtable advisory committee. In Milwaukee, he was chairperson of the City Plan Commission (1993–2004). In 2003, Greenstreet became the director of planning and design for the City of Milwaukee, creating a unique town/gown relationship between the university and the city that was a first of its kind in the nation. This position evolved into the chair of city development in 2008, a role he served in for five years.

David Dowell is an architect and principal at the Kansas City-based firm el dorado and serves on the American Roundtable advisory committee. He is actively involved in art and design issues in Kansas City and has worked extensively across the Midwest. He received his MArch from the University of California, Berkeley and a BArch from Washington University in St. Louis. Dowell teaches the design and make studio in the College of Architecture, Planning and Design at Kansas State University.

Anne Marie Duvall Decker is an architect and cofounder of Jackson, Mississippi-based Duvall Decker Architects and serves on the American Roundtable advisory committee. Working primarily in Mississippi, the firm’s work tackles civic, housing, and educational projects, often for economically disadvantaged communities, in a state with little public funds. Their work ranges from architectural design and community planning to real estate development and construction management. She received her BArch degree from Mississippi State.

Anne Rieselbach is program director of The Architectural League, where she directs many of the League’s lecture series, competitions, exhibitions, and special projects. She has over 30 years of experience identifying and presenting new design voices from across North America, as the director of the Emerging Voices and League Prize Award programs, whose national alumni network will play a key role in informing and contributing to the American Roundtable project.

Sarah Wesseler is editor of digital media at The Architectural League and will play a key role in managing and producing editorial content for American Roundtable. After work in design communications, she served as an editor at Arup, producing its in-house journal Doggerel, and was a cofounding editor and art director of the independent design publication Satellite Magazine.

The Architectural League of New York, founded on January 18, 1881 by a group of young architects, nurtures excellence in architecture, design, and urbanism, and stimulates thinking and debate about the critical design and building issues of our time. As a vital, independent forum for architecture and its allied disciplines, the League helps create a more beautiful, vibrant, innovative, and sustainable future.