Using Design Competitions to Improve the Quality of Housing: A Roundtable Discussion

When states and localities encourage the development of housing on publicly owned land they tend to focus on the number of units that will be created rather than design strategies that create new kinds of homes, provide important amenities, use new construction methods, or create opportunities for a new generation of design professionals. Susanne Schindler will discuss her recent working paper about how design competitions can address these shortcomings. Boston-area practitioners Kathleen Evans, Tim Love, Sam Naylor, Rebecca Tomasovic, and Joseph Zeal-Henry will join for a roundtable discussion about the opportunities and challenges of procurement processes that promote quality, transparency, and capacity building in the design and development of housing.

Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies.

An edited version of the conversation will be published as part of the 2026 edition of The State of Housing Design book, which will feature similar pieces from two other upcoming Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies events.