CITIES
NEIGHBORHOODS
STREETS
DESIGN
ENGAGEMENT
VISUALIZATION
LET'S MAKE
SOME PLANS!
CITY PLANNING
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URBAN DESIGN
CITIES
NEIGHBORHOODS
STREETS
Planning for:
We're designers and city planners
Our mission is to help communities, large and small, think about where they are now, what they would like to become, and what steps are needed to get there. We strive to make planning and design accessible to all audiences with a style that is artistic, playful, and approachable.
Planning is about more than identifying what to build and where. It’s about connecting people to places and to one another.
Our Work Grapples With the Most Pressing Issues of Today
Our Plans Result in Action and Powerful Outcomes
We’re proud of what we do and have been recognized with nine national awards from the American Planning Association - many due to our unique and creative brand of public engagement.
We have received awards from the International Downtown Association and the National Recreation and Parks Association for projects that advance a more equitable future.
WE'RE SUPER HELPFUL, AND WOULD BE HAPPY TO CHAT WITH YOU!
Engagement has been a centerpiece to our work since the get go. The engagement needs to be fun to encourage folks to tell their neighbors and friends to get involved. We pioneered quite a few techniques over the years and still love the opportunity to connect with folks.
#communityengagement #cityplanning #urbandesign
Downtown Atlanta felt like a homecoming for Scott, our Georgia Tech grad - go Jackets! Our biggest downtown plan at that time with a need to leverage the momentum our friends at Central Atlanta Progress had helped to create.
It was Atlanta where we also coined the term “Blah-za.” Like a plaza, but...blah. We have since found and categorized examples of blah-zas in every downtown we have worked. Too many spaces are overlooked and undesigned which accomplishes the exact opposite of a plaza - to bring people together.
Our friends at @stosslu worked with us to redesign a few key ones in Atlanta and @downtownatlanta continues to make impressive progress on all fronts!
Read more about #blahzas and how we can begin to transform these spaces in our bio link.
GR Forward was the brand created for our downtown and river corridor plan. Along with our friends at Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. creative engagement took center stage. The plan’s comprehensive focus on equity won an International Downtown Association Pinnacle Award.
We love seeing the built progress (including a long-requested downtown supermarket) and that @downtowngrinc celebrated the anniversary with a cake!
Our downtown planning work began in Macon, GA with the College Hill Corridor in the mid-2000s. We’ve since completed multiple versions of the Macon Action Plan (MAP) including the newest update a few weeks ago. This is a testament to our local partners who get things done! It’s been truly a privilege to watch their progress. Thank you Macon!
Read about the release of MAP XL through the link in our bio.
@newtownmacon @maconbibb_uda @maconactionplan @knightfdn @merceryou
Over our 2 decades, we’ve worked in extremely diverse communities where cultures and languages are varied. Engaging and planning in these communities rests on our ability to communicate through drawing. We’ve been excited to work not just in Philly’s Chinatown for years but also with Somali residents in Lewiston (ME) as well as multicultural efforts in Hamtramck, Lynn, Fall River, SE Lancaster, Camden and many more.
#chinatownphilly #cityofhamtramck #lancasterpa #cityoflewiston @chinatownpcdc @saca_lancaster @officiallewistonme
