Urban planning institution, MIT's Center for Advanced Urbanism, gets a name change in recognition of residential property tycoon Norman Leventhal, a noted urban visionary.

MIT Renames Center for Advanced Urbanism, Establishes New Professorship

In a significant move, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has renamed its Center for Advanced Urbanism (CAU) as the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. This decision comes with a generous gift from the Leventhal family, which will also establish the CAU as the Institute's hub for research related to large-scale, complex, 21st-century metropolitan environments.

The center was named after Norman B. Leventhal, a visionary developer and philanthropist who was a vital member of the MIT community for three-quarters of a century. Leventhal, who passed away last year, was known for his contributions to urban development, particularly in Boston.

Since its inception in 2013, under the vision and leadership of Adele Naude Santos, the center has tackled challenges and embraced opportunities ranging from urban resiliency to urban storm water wetland design to affordable housing. With the gift, the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) will appoint CAU codirector Alan Berger to the existing Muriel and Norman Leventhal Family Foundation Fund professorship.

Leventhal, who grew up in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and graduated from the Boston Latin School at age 15, started his career as a naval architect during World War II. After the war, he cofounded the Beacon Construction Co. with his brother, Robert. The firm grew significantly in the post-World War II years and undertook various projects across the U.S., including remodeling stores, building post offices, constructing public and military housing, and creating thousands of units of affordable housing in the Boston area.

Among the couple's most distinctive gifts was the establishment of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. Leventhal and his wife, Muriel, also supported various institutions, including MIT, the Boston Public Library, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston.

The gift will also launch a new CAU journal and initiate the Leventhal Prize to recognize real-world collaboration aimed at solving pressing urban design, architectural, and environmental problems globally. The naming ceremony was attended by Alan and Sherry Leventhal and other members of Norman Leventhal's extended family.

Leventhal's work on South Station, as part of a public-private partnership, preserved the station's striking neoclassical facade while successfully rejuvenating the interior as a transit hub, public space, and setting for commerce. The first large-scale project in Boston, of which Leventhal remained especially proud, was Center Plaza, the long, curving office building in Boston's Government Center, completed in 1969.

The Leventhal family's generous support will elevate the center as MIT's gateway for understanding cities and imagining their future. While there is no information available in the provided search results regarding the Muriel and Norman Leventhal Family Foundation's previous donations to MIT, the impact of this latest gift is undoubtedly significant.