In addition to his architecture practice, Simeon Bruner is the founder of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence and the Bruner/Loeb Forum, programs designed to encourage national dialogue on the most important issues facing American cities today.

The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) is a national award to discover and celebrate urban places distinguished by quality design and social, economic, and environmental contributions to the urban fabric. RBA Selection Committees are interdisciplinary, bringing together multiple perspectives on urban issues.

The award increases the visibility of winners and promotes fresh thinking about the kinds of places that make our cities better places to live and work. Since 1989, RBA case studies have publicized the creative thinking of award winners, supporting ongoing conversations about the nature of design excellence.

The Bruner/Loeb Forum is a partnership between the RBA and Harvard University's Loeb Fellowship Program. The Forum is an interactive program that aims to advance thinking on a wide variety of challenges facing our cities, and to make the experience of RBA winners and Loeb fellows available to practitioners, educators, and policy makers across the country.

Several forums are offered each year in cities across the country. Recent topics include Transforming Community through the Arts; Placemaking for Change: Non-Traditional Models of Community Revitalization; and Redevelopment in Baton Rouge, Facing New Challenges.

Lee Cott developed an early appreciation for the impact of design on people's lives through his service as a Peace Corps architect (1966–1968). Living and working with communities in southern Colombia's mountain villages, he assisted with architecture, development and planning. This attention to the reciprocity of place, culture, and design continues to inform Mr. Cott's professional and academic work.

During his 17 years as a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Mr. Cott taught advanced design studio classes and seminars. He encouraged students to develop their skills as whole professionals by working in the spaces where theory and practice converge. His studios were often sited internationally, with a focus on the cultural issues facing contemporary urban places. Five design studios sited in Cuba examined Havana's deteriorating urban environment and were rooted in the planning and urban design implications for Havana's future; results were subsequently published and presented in Cambridge and Havana. Other design studio classes concentrated on Kyiv, Ukraine and Monterrey, Mexico.

Courses on urban issues in the United States included the "Bronzeville" Chicago studios — three semesters focusing on the public housing neighborhoods of Chicago's South Side. These were the first ever at the Harvard Graduate School of Design to simultaneously address public housing, community and race, and to suggest strategies for designers and planners seeking equitable solutions. Mr. Cott's seminar The Design of Housing in the United States explored ideas, forms and metaphors associated with the creation of housing. Unique in Harvard's curriculum, the seminar featured faculty from other graduate schools within the University, introducing students to the broad, interdisciplinary impacts of design.

An expert in building technology and restoration, Henry Moss is committed to design and real estate strategies that support the preservation of historic buildings and landscapes. Beyond his architectural practice, he is a recognized advocate for preservation, working to ensure the vitality of landmark sites through research, teaching, and fellowship.

Since 1987, Mr. Moss has chaired the Boston Society of Architects Historic Resources Committee. He speaks for the profession on preservation advocacy, leads workshops to introduce technical developments and new avenues of thought to professionals in allied disciplines, and works to further the careers of younger practitioners. Mr. Moss is a leader in developing new designs and systems to update existing buildings. Recent advocacy has explored energy conservation measures that can have wide applicability without damage to architectural quality. Publications referencing his work include National Park Service Preservation Tech Notes, Architecture Boston, The Architectural Review and Architectural Design.

Mr. Moss' work in support of historic buildings and landscapes includes service on the boards of directors and working committees of Historic Boston Incorporated, Historic New England, the Old South Association, the Boston Architectural College, the Wentworth Institute of Technology, the Concord Land Conservation Trust, the Walden Woods Project, and DOCOMOMO_US/New England, of which he is a founding member.