City Hall and its Future: A Public Conversation

“City Hall and Its Future: A Public Conversation” was presented by The Dallas Architecture Forum and the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture at SMU on January 22, 2026. This important program began with introductory remarks by Eurico Francisco, AIA. Seemee Ali, PhD then examined the historic importance of city centers as places of gathering and civic identity. She also reviewed how Dallas civic visionaries led by then-mayor J. Erik Jonsson commissioned Pritzker prize-winning architect I M Pei to design our current Dallas City Hall to move forward from the shadow of the Kennedy assassination. Ali noted that Pei was personally selected by Jackie Kennedy to design JFK’s Presidential Library in Boston, and allowing our current Dallas City Hall to be destroyed would create yet again a gaping wound in the urban fabric of Dallas. Economist Cullum Clark PhD, faculty member at SMU, presented important economic data about what creates and sustains a vibrant city center. He also discussed the adverse impact that sports arenas, convention centers, and casinos located in city centers can have on the city’s residents. Some of those results may include public intoxication, drug use, and prostitution. Clark’s data also indicated that even well-managed convention centers are generally “vacant” about 60% of the time, with no positive street activation around them when not in use. Bob Meckfessel, FAIA enumerated concerns he and other leading architects in Dallas have about the process certain developers and city leaders are pursuing to force a premature decision to abandon our current city hall. The program concluded with a video by Quin Mathews highlighting key elements of the history, durability, and importance of the I M Pei-designed City Hall. Dallas city staff members were invited by program organizers to participate in this discussion but declined to do so.