Cities, like forests, are in a constant state of renewal. While forests recycle in rhythm with natural laws, the city is recycled by the collective will and conscience of its citizens.
Eleven years after Chattanooga’s Urban Design Studio closed, a new Chattanooga Design Studio is opening to help upgrade the urban landscape, public spaces and building designs of downtown and its neighboring areas.
Organizers of the nonprofit group hope it will elevate the look and layout of Chattanooga’s central city and build on what they say helped transform downtown Chattanooga over the past generation.
“This is a real chance to step up our game and revisit the principles that made us such a poster child for good design in the past,” said Christian Rushing, a long-time city planner who will head the new Chattanooga Design Studio. “One of the great things about the old studio is that it helped take the community’s ideas and made them visible and put a vision behind them. The role that urban design has played in Chattanooga’s growth and re-invigoration over the last three decades cannot be overstated.”
Rushing, who worked for six years at the Urban Design Studio, said many of the most popular features of Chattanooga’s downtown were outgrowths of urban design forums by the former Urban Design Studio, including development plans around the Tennessee Aquarium, along the waterfront, at Miller Plaza and in the redeveloping Southside.