Over the past four decades, Chattanooga has arguably become one of the best mid-size cities in America — if not the best. The transformation is no accident.
It reflects an engaging public input process; the support of philanthropic individuals, foundations and corporations; visionary public leadership; and a central business district that had nowhere to go but up.
There was another critical factor: Chattanooga’s commitment to principle-based urban design.
For three decades, that commitment was embodied in the work of J. Stroud Watson, who died on March 13 at age 88.
(IN THE NEWS: Stroud Watson, integral to Chattanooga’s downtown revival, dies at 88)