TSW Receives Planning Award for Clarkston Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) 10-Year Update

TSW, an Atlanta-based, full-service planning, architecture and landscape architecture firm (www.tsw-design.com), has won three Chapter Awards from the Georgia Planning Association (GPA). The awards were announced at the organization’s fall conference in Savannah, Ga. Sept. 10. The three TSW projects that were honored are: the Clarkston, Ga. LCI 10-year Update, the Downtown Alpharetta, Ga. Master Plan and Zoning Code and the South Downtown Atlanta, Ga. MARTA Transit Stations Enhancement Plan. GPA makes awards each year to projects and plans that demonstrate innovation, transferability, quality, effectiveness of implementation, comprehensiveness, public participation, technology, equity, sustainability and collaboration.

“We are delighted to have three of our recent planning projects recognized by the Georgia Planning Association,” said Thomas Walsh, TSW founding partner and co-director of the firm’s New Urbanism Studio. “It’s always nice to receive recognition for our work, but it’s especially meaningful when it comes from an organization of our peers and others involved in community planning and economic development.”

The City of Clarkston, Ga. assembled a multidisciplinary team led by TSW to update the city’s initial Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study from 2004 to reflect current market conditions and changing local needs. The team conducted an extensive existing conditions assessment of the downtown study area, focusing on previous LCI accomplishments, land use, transportation, markets and economics, urban design, historic resources, public facilities and spaces and life-long community elements. As part of the public outreach, a project website was created along with public meeting notices and translation of materials to engage Clarkston’s international residents. The final update included such recommendations as mixed-use, transit-oriented development, an increased range of housing options, downtown building reuse and rehabilitation, redevelopment of Stone Mountain Trail Village, road improvements for pedestrian and bicycle activity, political and organizational infrastructure to facilitate and promote redevelopment, quality urban design guidelines and standards and new public spaces and pocket parks.
www.tsw-design1.com/portfolio-items/clarkston-lci-10-year-update/

About GPA
The Georgia Planning Association (GPA) is an official chapter of the American Planning Association that provides a forum for professional planners to share their expertise and ideas with policymakers and the public for the benefit of our state and its citizens. Its members consist of professional planners and planning officials who serve Georgia’s communities at all levels of government, the private sector and non-profit organizations. Through conferences, planners lunch events, partnerships with other organizations for special events, the Community Planning Institute and other activities, GAP has provided important resources to Georgia communities for over three decades. www.georgiaplanning.org

About TSW
TSW is a full-service planning, architecture and landscape architecture firm. The award-winning Atlanta company was founded in 1990 and specializes in sustainable community design, architecture and landscape architecture. TSW is a leader in the New Urbanist movement and employs a community planning and design process that links tradition and context with today’s cultural and environmental demands. Sustainable design is an integral part of all TSW work, from the master plan level to the individual building components. TSW’s staff members are LEED Accredited Professionals and their designs incorporate a range of ideas for progressive energy and resource saving solutions. www.tsw-design.com.