Executive Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a learning provider for leaders who build the world, is inviting registrations for its live online programme, Story Building: Secrets of Narrative Placemaking and Design from Entertainment Architecture.
The unique programme will take place on 10, 12, and 15 December 2025, 11:00 to 13:00 EST. Places are limited, and early registration is recommended. Tuition fees are $1,450, with discounted tuition costs of $1,250 available until 15 October.
To register, please click here.
Led by internationally renowned theme park designer Steve Tatham, the sessions will explore how theme parks use narrative techniques to develop memorable built environments, and how attendees can apply these approaches to elevate their built projects.
Tatham will share lessons from his career building immersive experiences, including learnings from the design of America’s latest theme park, Universal’s Epic Universe, which launched in May 2025.
“Inspired by his time learning alongside real estate developers in Harvard’s advanced leadership program in real estate, Steve created this program, which shows how to apply theme park design secrets to bring projects to life,” says a spokesperson from Harvard GSD Executive Education.
Designed for leaders in the attractions industry and beyond, attendees will learn a three-step storytelling approach to placemaking design that is proven to enhance a project’s appeal to visitors and investors.
Indelible insights
When Walt Disney World launched in 1971, David Brinkley of NBC said it was “the most imaginative and effective piece of urban planning in America.”
This comprehensive programme, taught by a 30 + year veteran of Universal Creative and Disney, demonstrates how practices from designing theme parks can be integrated into placemaking.
Attendees will refine their understanding of architectural narrative through real-world examples from theme park design, architecture, and real estate development. This learning will be further developed through classroom discussion and practice pitch sessions.
The programme will include three sessions, delivered through a combination of lectures, back-and-forth discussions, and interactive exercises that enable learning to be immediately put into practice.
It begins with Telling, a session on distilling a project’s emotional core into a simple logline. The second session, Selling, focuses on the mechanics of pitching, with an emphasis on stakeholder analysis and how to lead a pitch with a compelling vision rather than just presenting facts. Finally, Gelling brings these skills together, showing how to sustain a project’s story from groundbreaking through major milestones, such as completion and lease-up.
A previous attendee said: “Steve Tatham’s window into story building will open a new set of eyes for you, in a visual and imaginative way told with enthusiasm, examples, takeaway mottos, and panache. In ways you’ll indelibly remember. Highly recommended!”
Another commented that the course “embodies the elegance and simplicity of properly communicating a narrative, in more ways than relate specifically to Real Estate.”
Executive Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design aims to educate leaders to build smarter, healthier, greener, more beautiful, and overall better cities. Its programmes take place both at Harvard and across the world and are taught by teams of Harvard faculty and renowned industry leaders.
