I recently found myself traveling along the route I use to walk to school as a young boy every day. I grew up in the city of Manchester during the ’60s and ’70s at a time in which the city was going through many changes. The downtown, which was once the thriving retail and economic hub of the state, was going through a time of “urban renewal.” The once bustling downtown was then for the most part abandoned as the growth of strip malls, food services, and entertainment venues continued along the outskirts of the city.

Summertime and vacations are traditionally a great time to read a good book. With time on our hands, a book is a great escape. I read a book recently which I think many of you may be familiar with or have read already: The Devil in the White City, Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that changed America by Erik Larson. Don’t worry, this is not a book review, I will leave that up to you. The story and the way Larson was able to weave two distinctly disparate stories was in itself entertaining, but what fascinated me most was the story of the architects.

That’s the AIA’s national public relation and advertising campaign that launched back in December of 2014. The goal is to raise the public profile of the architect’s contribution to the built environment. At Grassroots this year, Robert Ivy, CEO of the AIA, asked attendees if they had seen the recent ads for the Look Up campaign on TV. To be honest, I had not seen an ad for this campaign until after the conference, and even then it didn’t make much of an impression on me.