The Trust for Public Land Announces Placemaking Partnership with the Atlanta Department of City Planning

The Trust for Public Land and the Atlanta Department of City Planning are partnering to increase the number of projects implemented in the citywide Placemaking Program in 2019. Applications for the 2019 round of placemaking projects are now available-and are due Friday, March 29, 2019. The Program Guide and application are available: http://bit.ly/ATLPlacemaking.

Two public information sessions will be held to provide the opportunity for interested applicants to ask questions and get more information about the program:

• Meeting One: Tuesday, Feb. 12 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Rosel Fann Recreation Center at 365 Cleveland Ave SE, Atlanta, 30354
• Meeting Two: Tuesday, Feb. 26, Midtown location to be announced

Placemaking is the process of creating quality places in which people want to live, work, play and learn. The Department of City Planning’s (DCP) Office of Mobility Planning is leading the Placemaking program for the City of Atlanta, with pilot projects at Cascade Heights at Cascade and Beecher Road, as well as North Highland Ave. NE and Amsterdam Ave. NE, where parklets, art installations and street trees will create a more vibrant public realm.

This partnership will build even greater momentum around placemaking and create more opportunities for community ideas to become a reality. As authorized by the Atlanta City Council, through the partnership the City will continue to allocate $100,000 to oversee management and development of placemaking projects each year. The Trust for Public Land is actively fundraising to support a goal of providing up to $100,000 in technical assistance and donations of materials to the City and placemaking projects, including design direction and installation assistance to selected projects.

Through the Placemaking Program, community members can request funding for projects that provide a clear safety benefit, creatively improves the existing use of space, and has documented neighborhood support. Once accepted into the program, the City of Atlanta and The Trust for Public Land will work with community members to develop ideas to improve street safety and transform streets into vibrant, welcoming and attractive places that become integral to the public realm.

“Enhancing public spaces to encourage people to spend time outdoors supports The Trust for Public Land’s mission to ensure everyone has access to a park within a 10-minute walk to help foster healthy, livable communities for generations to come,” said George Dusenbury, state director for The Trust for Public Land in Georgia. “Our goal is for every park, playground and public space to be an inviting place to explore, discover and play.”

In 2017, The Trust for Public Land’s Director of Creative Placemaking, Matthew Clarke, authored The Field Guide for Parks and Creative Placemaking, which the Department of City Planning used as a guide to develop much of the framework around the current Placemaking Program.

“The Trust for Public Land is proving to be the ideal partner to take the City of Atlanta’s Placemaking Program to the next level,” said Commissioner Tim Keane, Department of City Planning. “We’re extremely excited that our partnership with such an innovative organization has already begun to lay the foundation for using creative strategies to help create a rich, vibrant culture in our city.”

About The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Millions of people live within a 10-minute walk of a Trust for Public Land park, garden or natural area, and millions more visit these sites every year–including the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, Atlanta BeltLine and a multitude of other sites in Georgia. To support The Trust for Public Land and share why nature matters to you, visit www.tpl.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.