Mayor Danny Rourke (right), signs the Frontrunner City agreement in January 2025, as City Manager Tom Golden (left) looks on.

The highly anticipated Frontrunner City initiative takes a giant step forward next week, as a delegation from the Urban Economy Forum is slated to tour the Mill City.

A memorandum on the City Council agenda for tonight’s special meeting highlights that “in July 2025, a delegation from the Urban Economy Forum will travel to Lowell to tour the city, meet with strategic development partners and learn more about our community with in-person meetings and discussions.”

While the exact date/dates of their visit have yet to be announced, City Manager Tom Golden has mentioned on multiple occasions that representatives would also appear before the city council. Given that the council is on its summer meeting schedule, the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month, that would indicate their presence at either the July 8th or July 22nd gathering.

‘We are looking forward to showcasing the great city of Lowell to not only the United Nations, but soon, to the entire world,” Mayor Danny Rourke tells InsideLowell.

The memo adds that during the visit, the city will present information about ongoing city projects and development opportunities that align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that are central to the Frontrunner City Program. The city administration will bring together stakeholders and developers active in Lowell to learn more about potential partnership opportunities.

Discussions will also include opportunities to bring the first American location for a World Pavilion to Lowell.

According to the agenda memo, the discussion will also build upon discussions with developers that occurred at the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) event in early June, which brought state-wide developers together to learn more about state-owned property which is being made available for housing development. The event provided the city an opportunity to meet and network with developers active across the state in developments of all types and sizes.

The visit of the Canadian delegation will mark the first of many in this ongoing partnership, which when combined with UMass Lowell’s LINC project, holds the promise to completely transform Lowell and usher in an economic rebirth the likes of which the city experienced during the Industrial Revolution from the 1820’s to the 1860’s.

The  Mill City’s Frontrunner City initiative was born from an appearance by Mayor Rourke at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Toronto. From there, discussions moved quickly, culminating in the January of 2025 signing ceremony that made Lowell the first Frontrunner City in the United States.