Overview
Our Global Exchange fellowship for mid-career leaders surveys the world for bold solutions to New York City’s most intractable problems. Beginning in summer 2026, Fast Forward will explore cities taking courageous steps to reclaim streets, expand public transit, and undo the dominance of the private car. 40 Fellows from across sectors will engage leading local and global experts, travel to Mexico City to study its approaches to mobility, publish findings, and meet with local decision-makers to demand courageous public policy.
New York City has made strides in improving transportation in recent years, from implementing congestion pricing to building over 650 miles of protected bike lanes. Yet we still face critical challenges: aging transit and stations are outdated, crumbling highways divide and pollute communities; more commuters face longer, costlier rides; and congested streets are unsafe for pedestrians, cyclists, and micromobility users alike.
A new mayoral administration presents a once-in-a-generation chance to reshape how New York moves. But the clock is ticking. Storms regularly flood our subways and streets. New mobility modes are reshaping daily travel faster than regulation can respond. And critical infrastructure — from the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the BQE and FDR Drive — is deteriorating without a clear plan for the future.
We know what New York City can and must do: build better buses, make streets safer and more welcoming, reconnect divided neighborhoods, and align housing growth with transit investment. The question is how to unite unlikely allies and create the momentum for a city that moves all of us better.
New York City’s mobility challenges are framed as uniquely complex, but cities around the world confront similar pressures. Through Global Exchange, we explore the cultural and political decisions behind international examples to energize decision-makers and better advocate for change. Fast Forward will bring together the foremost local and global mobility experts, advocates, private sector leaders, and government officials to produce bold ideas to move New York City forward.
Key Questions
Fellows will form working groups based on their interests and expertise, focusing on intersecting challenges:
Building the Best Bus: How are cities designing and delivering fast, affordable, and accessible buses to connect underserved neighborhoods?
Reclaiming the Street: How are cities reconfiguring street space to balance safety, climate resilience, freight efficiency, and vibrant public life?
Repairing Divided Communities: How are cities reworking major infrastructure like highways to confront environmental harm and reconnect neighborhoods?
Emerging Modes: How are cities deploying good design, smart regulation, and effective incentives to guide autonomous vehicles, e-bikes, and last-mile delivery?
Centering Transit in Development: How are cities aligning housing policy and transit investment to build connected and walkable neighborhoods?
Engaging Unlikely Allies: How are cities rallying grassroots organizations, small businesses, anchor institutions, and real estate leaders to champion transit and safe streets together?
Structure
Global Fellows will lead comparative research through a nine-month, 130-hour leadership development program grounded in experiential learning.
Learning & Workshop Days
Working groups of Fellows collaboratively investigate creative projects and policy initiatives from around the world. Each group organizes an experiential Learning Day, an immersive workshop for the full cohort examining one critical issue facing New York City and connecting fellows to international leaders to share insights. Visits to key mobility projects and conversations with local transportation leaders explore local challenges and success stories.
Comparative Research & Outputs
Interviews with global and New York City-based mobility experts contribute to the Fellows’ knowledge base and form the foundation for their research. Fellows will publish findings and share them with key elected officials, agency and community leaders. We will also support Fellows to write op-eds, make presentations and participate in mobility conferences with new audiences.
Public Programs
A speaker series will invite international leaders to share major projects and innovative policy with our broader membership. Speakers will be invited to engage directly with Fellows in their research.
Study Trip to Mexico City
A 5-day study trip challenges Fellows to dive deep into Mexico City’s unique mobility network which integrates multiple modes, connects peripheral neighborhoods, and plans for micromobility. Through site visits, meetings with government officials and civic leaders, and workshops, Fellows will leave with new ideas and inspiration for their work in New York. Fellows are expected to pay for their own flight and accommodations but do not need to pay additional tuition for the trip.
Calendar
Application & Selection
Application Release March 5
Application Deadline May 1
Notification of Results May 19
Program Activities
All dates are full-day activities.
Orientation July 9-10, 2026
Workshop July 31, 2026
Workshop September 18, 2026
Study Trip October 5-9, 2026 [optional]
Learning Day October 30, 2026
Learning Day November 13, 2026
Learning Day December 4, 2026
Workshop January 8, 2027
Learning Day January 22, 2027
Learning Day February 12, 2027
Learning Day February 26, 2027
Workshop March 19, 2027
Ideas Launch Event April 9, 2027
Final Debrief April 16, 2027
Attendance is required on all dates, unless otherwise noted. Fellows may miss only two dates for successful completion of the program.
What We Offer
Build Your Network
Fellows collaborate with leading experts in other disciplines and cities to elevate new and creative approaches to New York City’s mobility challenges.
Produce Original Research
Fellows lead cutting-edge research and showcase learnings to diverse audiences. We will support Fellows to present findings at conferences, author op-eds and case studies in outside publications, and engage with thought leaders and decision-makers.
Create Civic Change
Fellows deepen their understanding of emerging challenges in the built environment, develop expertise on the annual theme, and build collective strategies to champion change.
Develop Personal and Professional Leadership
Throughout the course of the program, Fellows will deepen their understanding beyond their own areas of expertise of the intersecting issues explored by their peers. They will gain skills in collaboration and teamwork, public speaking and facilitation, and networking and relationship building. Upon completion of the program, Fellows will be practiced in researching global case studies and reframing familiar problems in new perspectives.
Leverage Our Membership
Fellows gain access to Urban Design Forum’s member network, as well as workshops, roundtables, and tours throughout the year.
AIA Credits
Fast Forward Fellows are eligible to receive up to 36 AIA CE credits for completion of the learning days.
What we Ask For
Build Together
Fellows shape the program and cohort experience together. We ask Fellows for their active and engaged participation for the duration of the program.
Work Collaboratively
We ask that Fellows come with a willingness to collaborate and learn from others, and an eagerness to support each other’s learning arcs through the program.
Respect Differences
We ask that Fellows respect and learn from one another’s lived experiences and differing perspectives.
Bring Rigor & Creativity
We ask that Fellows dedicate rigorous critical thinking and expansive creativity to their work, with the goal of producing outputs that amplify New York’s conversation on the future of mobility.
Who Should Apply
Interests & Experience
Fellows are mid-career professionals in or entering senior leadership within their organizations, with 15 to 25 years of experience. Fellows are seeking opportunities to develop their leadership, knowledge, and networks through comparative research and interaction with a broad range of stakeholders.
We welcome candidates who don’t normally see themselves as experts in transportation — but who understand its role in shaping the built environment. We welcome candidates with deep interest in the intersections of mobility and design, development, engineering, policy, advocacy, journalism, law, construction and philanthropy. We encourage candidates whose work and research exclusively engages with local issues in New York City to apply, as well as those who work on mobility issues around the world.
Urban Design Forum seeks to build a cohort that welcomes traditionally underrepresented groups in planning and design. Women and gender-expansive people, people of color, LGBTQIA2S+ people, people with disabilities, and professionals with experience in diverse community settings are strongly encouraged to apply.
Time Commitment
Global Exchange is a time-intensive, experiential leadership development program that relies on the active participation of every member of the cohort. In addition to attendance at all program dates, Fellows should expect to commit approximately four hours per week (virtually and/or in person) throughout the fellowship.
Program Cost
We aim to build an inclusive cohort that recognizes that different leaders have different financial capacity to contribute toward this program.
Tuition in the Fellowship is $6,075, which covers the cost of 130 hours of programming with leading New York City and global thinkers. The additional costs of travel and accommodation for the study trip are assumed by the participants.
Scholarships will be made available to help cover the cost of participation for those who indicate need-based consideration, ranging between $500 and the full tuition amount of $6,075. We also offer installment payment plans.
How to Apply
Information Session
Interested applicants are welcome to attend our information webinar:
Application Materials
Submit your application by Friday May 1, 2026 at 11:59 pm via the online application form. Please direct any questions to submissions@urbandesignforum.org.
- Resume / CV
- Statement of Interest
In no more than 500 words, discuss your interest in the Fellowship, recent work and research on mobility, and commitment to international exchange.
- Nominating Letter
In no more than 500 words, nominating letters should address your strengths, areas of growth, and potential contributions to the Fellowship. Candidates are encouraged to seek a letter from a supervisor, current Forum Fellow, or someone deeply familiar with your work.
Apply Now
Support Our Work
Lead Sponsor
We thank Global Circle members Akerman LLP, Apple Bank, Crescere Collaborative, Fogarty Finger, HKS, Jamie von Klemperer, KPF, Office for the Next Environment, Skylight, and Upside Collab.
Global Exchange is made possible with additional support from our Board of Directors, Circle Members, and company and individual members. Our programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Global Circle members gather for events with esteemed speakers, travel together to a peer city, and connect New York’s decision-makers with their counterparts around the world. Their financial leadership enables us to offer the fellowship for free to advocates, public servants and journalists who need to be at the table.
Members receive benefits including network building, thought leadership, nomination of fellows, and visibility. For more information about how to join this league of supporters, along with a list of support tiers and benefits, please contact Miranda Bellizia, miranda@urbandesignforum.org.