Designing Cities–now over a decade old–is North America’s premier urban transportation conference.
Each year, the Designing Cities Conference brings together more than 1,000 engineers, planners, government agency leaders, elected officials, advocates, and other transportation professionals of all career levels to advance the state of the practice in North American cities.
Designing Cities finds a new home in a different NACTO member city each year, highlighting the incredible work that staff there are doing to create a great transportation system, as well as providing real-life examples of successes and challenges that attendees bring back to their own cities.
From plenaries, to peer learning sessions, to seamless networking opportunities–every part of the Designing Cities conference is carefully curated by NACTO staff and member agencies. And every year, the most popular programming at Designing Cities are WalkShops, mobile tours of real infrastructure and street design projects from the city and region. These have taken place on foot, bike, transit, scooter, and even, sometimes, by boat.
NACTO is proud to host a conference where over 70% of attendees are city transportation and transit staff from our member agencies and other public agencies. This composition of attendees enables quality peer-to-peer learning so transportation officials walk away feeling inspired, connected, and encouraged to continue doing great work in their own cities.
May 28 – 31, 2025
Designing Cities Conference: Washington DC
NACTO’s annual Designing Cities conference brings together over 1,000 people passionate about advancing the state of transportation in cities.
Conference Recaps
Designing Cities 2024: Miami-Dade
May 7 to May 10, 2024
Our twelfth annual conference was hosted by Miami-Dade County, FL and was the first held in the Southeast United States.
Designing Cities 2023: Denver
May 15 to May 18, 2023
Our eleventh annual conference, Designing Cities 2023, was hosted by the City of Denver, CO.
- Read some post-conference reflections from the NACTO team.
- See photos from WalkShops, plenaries, and more.
- View recordings of plenary sessions
- View the full conference schedule.
- Browse the conference attendee list (pdf).
Designing Cities 2022: Boston
September 7 to September 10, 2022
Hosted jointly by the cities of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, the event marked 10 years since the first Designing Cities Conference and was NACTO’s first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Read some post-conference reflections from the NACTO team.
- View recordings of plenary sessions featuring the mayors of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville; Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley; USDOT Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg and others.
- See photos of WalkShops, breakout sessions and everything else at the conference.
- Check out the best tweets from conference attendees.
- View the full conference schedule.
- Browse the conference attendee list (pdf).
Designing Cities 2020: Virtual Convening
December 2 to December 10, 2020
Designing Cities 2020 focused on creating opportunities for close peer-to-peer connection even as we remained physically distant.
Designing Cities 2019: Toronto
September 9 to September 12, 2019
Designing Cities 2018: Los Angeles
October 1 to October 4, 2018
Designing Cities 2017: Chicago
October 30 to November 2, 2017
Designing Cities 2016: Seattle
September 26 to September 29, 2016
Designing Cities 2015: Austin
September 26 to September 29, 2016
Designing Cities 2014: San Francisco
October 22 to October 25, 2014
Designing Cities 2013: Phoenix
October 27 to October 29, 2013
Designing Cities 2012: New York City
October 27 to October 29, 2013
NACTO hosted our first-ever Designing Cities conference in New York City, co-hosted by the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management