Clinton Presidential Library Honors CNU Charter Member Robert Gibbs

Robert J. Gibbs, ASLA, CNU-A was honored by the Clinton Presidential Library‘s School of Public Service for his career’s contributions in urban planning and development. As a William J. Clinton Distinguished Lecturer, Gibbs presented: “How Great Communities are Conceived and Built,” based on his new book Principles for Urban Retail Planning and Development. 

Gibbs is a noted Michigan landscape architect, urban planner and retail consultant who founded Gibbs Planning Group in 1988. He has consulted on over 400 cities and new towns across the United States, Pacific Rim and Europe including: Alexandria, Auckland, Birmingham (MI), Charleston, Grand Rapids, Houston, Naples, Portland, Santa Cruz and Seattle. Gibbs teaches a planning course at the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Executive Education Program and has contributed to five urban planning books. Gibbs holds a B.A. from Oakland University and a M.L.A. from the University of Michigan and is a charter member of the Congress for the New Urbanism. 

Prior speaker series have included: former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, journalist Bob Woodward, political consultants and policy advisors Karl Rove and James Carville, media titan and philanthropist Ted Turner, civil rights icons Ruby Bridges and Minnijean Brown Trickey, and actors Geena Davis and John Lithgow. 

The school was created under the vision of former President Bill Clinton, who wanted to create a global institution that legitimized the practice of public service within academia. The speaker series enhances the education of the school’s students, allowing them unprecedented interaction with leading academics, newsmakers and world leaders. Clinton School students also complete “hands-on” public service projects on all of the world’s six inhabited continents, ranging from local endeavors in Little Rock to international projects with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in South Africa.