John Norquist served as Mayor of Milwaukee from 1988-‐2004. Under his leadership, Milwaukee experienced
a decline in
poverty,
saw a boom in new downtown housing,
and became a leading center of
education and
welfare reform.
He oversaw
a revision
of
the city's zoning code
and reoriented development
around
walkable streets and
public amenities such as the city's 3.1-‐mile Riverwalk. Named a
Governing Magazine Public Official of the Year during his tenure,Norquist also received widespread
recognition for championing the
removal of a .8-‐mile stretch of elevated freeway. In
2008, he received the prestigious Bacon Prize from the Philadelphia Center for Architecture.
Norquist
is the author of The Wealth
of Cities: Revitalizing
the Centers of City Life. The
book argues that
cities
have
natural advantages that have been
undermined by a
half-‐century
of ill-‐conceived housing,
education, transportation, crime,
welfare, and
e
nvironmental
policies.
Af
ter his
mayorship, Norquist took the
helm of
the Congress for
the New
Urbanism,
the leading organization promoting walkable,mixed-‐use neighborhood development, sustainable communities and healthier living conditions. He spoke
often and eloquently about the
regulatory obstacles that continue to get in the way of
good urbanism.BuildingonhisexperiencetakingdowntheParkEastFreewayin Milwaukee, he championed a national CNU campaign that has helped advocates and local officials in
their own
highway teardown movements. Norquist
led CNU
from
2004
to 2014.
Previously, Norquist
taught courses in urban policy and planning at the University
of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-‐Milwaukee School of
Architecture and Urban Planning, and at Marquette
University. He earned a
B.A. and M.A. at the University
of
Wisconsin
and served
in the
U.S. Army
Reserves from 1971 to 1977.