Our Sponsor Reception welcomes our 2025 Annual Sponsors to connect over cocktails at W Nashville. We have been told that it is the professional event sponsors look forward to attending in the Fall, while some might say it is the best event we host all year. It is truly a celebration with fellow city leaders, planners, designers, architects, developers, and advocates—the people who are influencing Nashville today and for years to come.

This is just a save-the-date. To attend this event, please register your guests below. If your company is not yet a sponsor, please consider supporting the mission of the Civic Design Center by reviewing the benefits and pledging your contribution.

We couldn’t do what we do without the dedication and trust we receive from our sponsors.

Registered Attendees

Open Streets Nashville temporarily closes streets to cars, encouraging community connection, physical activity, and support for local businesses. This initiative inspires new uses for public spaces, allowing biking, walking, dancing, and more. Neighbors, businesses, and organizations can reclaim street space, creating opportunities for picnics, art, and play. The free event transforms streets into park-like settings, fostering exploration and enjoyment without cars. Originating in Bogotá, Colombia, many cities now embrace Open Streets programs, including Atlanta and Louisville.

Civic Design Center Open Streets Activities

Noon - 2pm: Glencliff and Antioch Tactical Urbanism Intervention

The Civic Design Center has designed a tactical urbanism gateway intervention for the focus area of Antioch Pike (from Nolensville to McCall). It looks at trying to move vehicles to the center lanes of the road in an attempt to distance cars from the sidewalk as much as possible. Help us paint new bulb-outs at this intersection during Open Streets.

2pm - 3pm: Knitting Workshop

Learn the basics of knitting and help dress up our traffic turtles that will be installed the the new tactical urbanism installation at Glencliff and Antioch. Yarn will be provided all you need is your fingers!

3pm - 2pm: Traffic Turtle Installation

Help place the traffic turtles in our new bulb-outs at Glencliff and Antioch.

This year at Open Streets we will be collaborating with Walk Bike Nashville, the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure, the Civic Design Center, and community partners to design and build tactical urbanism installations to info a longer-term (or Quick Build) Project on Antioch Pike. Learn more about the project.

Free Art and Craft Fair with music, demos, kids activities, food trucks, and dozens of middle Tennessee's most creative and diverse artists and craftspeople! Celebrating the artistic legacy of Nashville's famous groundbreaking African American sculptor, William Edmondson, on the site where he lived and worked!

Help Shape the Future of William Edmondson Homesite Park

The Civic Design Center will be at WE Fest to share your thoughts and ideas about the future of William Edmondson Homesite Park and Gardens. This is your opportunity to help reimagine this important space in our community. We want to hear from you! What kinds of features would you like to see? How can the park better serve the community? See a vision created by Friends of William Edmondson Homesite Park and the Civic Design Center for this historical site and let us know what you think so we can work together to create a vibrant, inclusive space for everyone to enjoy. Please stop by our table, and chat with us about your ideas.

Calling all artists, neighbors, friends and, well, people who just like to use spray paint ...!

Can you spare an hour or two to help us refresh part of the Fisk-Meharry community? We are building a new parklet by the Jubilee Bridge. Leave your mark in this mini-park by helping us paint recycled tires, used as planters!!

For more info: Email info@world-accp.org OR call or text (615) 768-1923

A collaboration of community partners and friends:

• World AfriCultural Community Project

• NDOT

• Civic Design Center

• Pillars Development

• Fisk University.

• Moody Nolan

• Metro Planning

• JUMP

• Whiting Turner

• North Nashville Arts Coalition

This is an Urban Design Forum+ presented by the University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Architecture + Design and Gresham Smith.

We're honored to celebrate the career of Professor TK Davis. Mark your calendars, because you won’t want to miss this.

Agenda:

4:30pm-5:30pm

Exclusive Lecture (Invite Only)

5:30pm-7:30pm

Reception with Toast to TK

7:00pm-7:30pm

Personalized Book Signing

Please RSVP below and for all the latest updates and Design Center sneak peeks make sure to follow us on Instagram.

SAVE THE DATE!

A gathering of Civic Design Center’s esteemed Presidents’ Council members to tour, learn, enjoy and celebrate the amazing landscape and physical architecture of the Vanderbilt Campus. The event will feature a tour by Vanderbilt’s University Landscape Architect, James Moore, with a reception to follow where attendees can gather to discuss the tour and enjoy libations (as well as the amazing sunset views on the 19th floor of the West End Tower!). 

The event is sponsored and hosted by Vanderbilt University’s Eric Kopstain, a proud Presidents’ Council member. Thank you, Eric!

Agenda:

4:00pm-5:30pm

Tour

5:30pm-7:00pm

Reception

Be sure to check your email on how to RSVP below and for all the latest updates and Design Center sneak peeks make sure to follow us on Instagram.

Please join the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) for the Second Annual Transportation Demand Management Summit hosted by the Nashville Connector. It will be an exciting day filled with insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and innovative ideas. This in-person event will bring together professionals from various industries to explore the latest trends in transportation demand management.

The event is free. Breakfast and lunch will be provided! Pre-registration is required.

It will be an exciting day filled with insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and innovative ideas. This in-person event will bring together professionals from various industries to explore the latest trends in transportation demand management.

Don't miss out on this unique chance to connect with industry leaders, share best practices, and gain valuable insights to enhance your TDM strategies. Whether you're a seasoned expert or new to the field, there's something for everyone at the Second Annual TDM Summit 2024. See you there!

The event is FREE and Breakfast and Lunch will be provided, so please register to hold your spot!

This event is part of the Association for Commuter Transportation's Transportation Demand Management Week. TDM Week is an opportunity to create awareness among decision-makers and key TDM stakeholders about the importance of including a range of safe and reliable modes of transportation for all users in the transportation planning process. This week is a time to share the importance of enacting programs that reduce the carbon footprint of transportation in our communities.

Agenda Comming Soon

Questions? Email NashConnector@Nashville.gov

The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure is partnering with Walk Bike Nashville and the Civic Design Center to create temporary improvements on Antioch Pike that could lead to long-term changes. The Public Life Study looks at how people move and use space by counting pedestrians and cyclists and mapping activities. We need your help to observe areas along Antioch Pike and shape future designs through surveys.

A Virtual Training session will be held on Monday, September 23rd from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. to guide you on how to conduct surveys for the Public Life Study. If you can't attend, we will send a recording, but joining live will allow you to ask questions. Each session lasts 2 hours, and participants should be ready to walk at least 1 mile. We will provide survey forms, clipboards, pens, and safety vests.

Please sign up for one or both Public Life Study sessions and consider taking the Antioch Pike Survey to share your opinions about the area.

In partnership with the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT), the Civic Design Center is shutting down the block in front of Donelson Plaza (well—part of it anyway) to celebrate reclaiming public space for pedestrians and unveil the new parklet in front of the Bagelshop.

We have been hosting PARK(ing) Day in Nashville for 12 years. New to PARK(ing) Day? PARK(ing) Day is a global, public, participatory art and design project which started in San Francisco in 2005. It is a day where people across the globe temporarily repurpose street parking spaces into tiny parks and places for art, play, and activism. Learn more about past interventions in Nashville.

Since NDOT had recently released the new Parklet Permit, last year we decided to host a design competition to support the creation of the very first permanent parklet instead of focusing our efforts on pop-ups. In our 2nd year of the Parklet Design Competition, we are not only bringing another permanent parklet to Nashville, but we are committed to celebrating the Donelson community where the parklet is being built. We couldn’t do it without Hardaway Construction, whose team is donating time and materials to bring this parklet to the neighborhood.

Please see the Vendor Map Below!
Community Partners: Choose How You Move, Donelson Gateway Project, Donelson Library, Donelson Run Club, Healing Art Project Inc, Nashville Moves, NDOT

Confirmed Vendors: Bagelshop (naturally), Aviate Press, Bowtie Barber Club, Cold Brew Boba, Hibbs Hunt Vintage, PHAT BITES, Pink Pizzza Portraits, Plus Closet, Smiling Frog Farm, Rebekah Turshen (Pastries), Ugly Duck Vintage, Yoga Muttz Movement Lounge, and more to come!

Musicians: Liam Bauman, Emilio Gonzalez, Michael Witt, and special guest, Sean McNamara with Nosey Flynn

Thanks to our sPonsors!

This Urban Design Forum+ is presented by Vanderbilt University and HASTINGS Architecture 

In terms of travel modes in Nashville, driving a car is still at the top of the hierarchy for many reasons. Our transit system’s current capabilities are not desirable or efficient enough for people who can choose to drive their car. However, this is slated for change if Nashville chooses to vote for dedicated funding this November. If the referendum passes, Transit Centers will be popping up across the city creating neighborhood-based hubs for connections to all travel modes—bus transfers, parking, rideshare, bikeshare, and a comfortable pedestrian experience.  

How do we make sure transit centers become places for complete communities? This is where Transit-Oriented Placemaking comes in.  We still have a long way to go on improving the desirability of transit beyond efficiency and reliability. The more our Transit Centers represent the surrounding communities, the more that transit will feel welcoming and exciting to use. From art to pop-up activations and events, we can create a “place” where typically someone might just pass through. 

During this Urban Design Forum+ we will hear a discussion between our Design Director, Eric Hoke, local muralist and organizer of Norf Wall Fest, Woke3, and MARTA’s Director of Transit-Oriented Development, soon-to-be WeGo’s Deputy CEO of Growth and Development, Debbie Frank. Learn from case studies both locally and regionally that will inspire the future of “T.O.P.” in Davidson County. 

RSVP below.

Agenda

5:00 pm: Doors open for mingling and viewing UT Knoxville Urban Design Studio projects in the lobby

5:30 pm: Program Begins

7:00 pm: Reception with Complimentary Beverages to Follow

Meet the Panelists

Debbie Frank

Deputy CEO of Growth and Development, WeGo Transit

Debbie Frank is a real estate development and urban planning expert with over 30 years of success spearheading planning, development, and redevelopment initiatives for local government agencies, nonprofit and for-profit organizations in Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia. Debbie is soon to be coming back to Nashville to work for WeGo and leaving her role as Director of Transit-Oriented Development at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in Atlanta, GA, where she managed the planning, implementation, and assets of the transit-oriented development program for the Authority. Since 2016 and under her leadership she has managed the completion of four (4) transit-oriented developments for MARTA, creating 1200 apartment units and 150,000 sf of office/retail space. These projects totaled a private sector investment of $300M for Metro Atlanta.

Prior to joining MARTA, Debbie served as managing partner of Urban Blueprint, a real estate development and consulting firm in Nashville, Tennessee with a primary focus on mixed-use development in emerging markets. She served as the owner’s representative project manager for the Music City Center, a 2.1 million square feet convention center. Debbie also served as the executive director of the North Nashville Community Development Corporation to promote the revitalization of the North Nashville community in partnership with Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University, and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. As a city planner, she developed land use policies and neighborhood redevelopment plans for Nashville-Davidson County.

Eric Hoke

Design Director, Civic Design Center

Eric joined the Civic Design Center team in 2012. As Director of the Design Studio, Eric has been involved in most of the last decade of projects at the Civic Design Center in some capacity.

Eric was a board member of Transit Now Nashville and served as Vice President, he was part of WeGo Public Transit’s Better Bus Committee, is an alum of the ULI Health Leaders Network, was on Smart Growth America's Complete Streets Leadership Academy Committee, and has represented the Civic Design Center on the Mayor’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, served on the Technical Advisory Committee for Choose How You Move (Nashville’s 2024 Transit Improvement Program), and Connect Mid-TN transit coalition where he continues his passion for sustainability, transportation, advocacy, and design.

Woke3

Muralist and Owner, Norf Wall Fest

Jamal Jenkins, known artistically as Woke3, is a melanated muralist and mixed-media artist from Norf Nashville. Woke3 has a special gift: he has the ability to make people feel connected, appreciated, respected, and completely submerged in his art works. His works are greatly praised by the community for being inclusive, diverse, and having the ability to show how no one thing is greater than another, expressing his heart for a more equitable world for all.

Moderator

Tanisha Hall

Founding Principal and CEO, Fairpointe Planning

Tanisha J. Hall is the Founding Principal & CEO of Fairpointe Planning, a MWDBE-certified management consulting firm focused on community and statewide transportation planning. Tanisha is a dynamic and innovative leader with a strong track record of developing “people-first” strategic plans by engaging diverse stakeholders early in the planning process.

Tanisha leads a dedicated team providing policy, strategic planning, data collection, analysis and visualization tools, and stakeholder, and community engagement services to rural and urban communities through multimodal transportation plans. Tanisha is also a Board Member for the Civic Design Center.

How can a young person’s perspective inspire new solutions? Come to the Nashville Youth Design Team’s Community Exhibition to find out!

The Nashville Youth Design Team is a diverse group of high school interns from across Davidson County working to make Nashville’s neighborhoods more supportive of youth wellbeing. The Team follows a Youth Participatory Action Research process where they conduct community research with young people in Nashville to learn how their neighborhoods are contributing or taking away from their wellbeing. Then, they design and install solutions to issues they are seeing. Past projects have inspired a permanent soccer field at Antioch Park and future complete street improvements on Dickerson Pike.

This summer, the Team has been working on community research and designs for the Looby Community Center and surrounding campus that address the need for more safe community spaces for youth.

As a society, we are so intentional about “play” for young children. Whether we think about play as getting energy out, learning or exploring, it takes a backseat when our “future” becomes more important. Recess is halted in place of more classroom learning at a very young age and homework has students sitting until it is time to go to bed. Teenagers are pressured to think about their future and maximizing time, which means that they are often yearning for a car to get around rather than walking, biking, or taking transit. Play and movement stops being built into daily life, so adults become out of practice to expect it for themselves.  

Play can be synonymous with joy, health, spirit, color, knowledge, and so much more. How do we design for play across more diverse age groups, abilities, and perspectives? 

In PechaKucha Nashville: Volume 46, Nashville Youth Design Team member, Addison Harper, will be our MC, while our presenters share their perspectives on Universal Play in under 7 minutes each. Attend the event to witness several lightning presentations that attempt to bring play into more aspects of your life.  

Presenters:

Jody Lentz, Think with Your Hands 

Johari Matthews, ONE Community & Titans Foundation 

Calah Gipson, Walk Bike Nashville 

Holley Maher, Wink Wink Creative 

Nathan Guice, Superior Recreational Products 

Liz Tenny, The Frist Art Museum 

Uma Peters, Nashville Youth Design Team 

Matthew Sharer, Shurrrr Designs 

Parvathi Santhosh-Kumar, America’s Promise Alliance 

About PechaKucha 

Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. 

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It grew into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. The Civic Design Center is the Nashville host. 

Nashville is one of our country’s fastest growing cities and yet significant tracts of agricultural land exist both within, and just beyond, our city’s limits. In this conversation, we are hearing from community members who are reimagining and rethinking our relationships with land and how we may connect growers–from hobby gardeners to farmers–with the land and resources they need to grow food for themselves and their communities.

The moderated panel discussion will be followed by open Q&A and an opportunity for community conversation and networking.

This event is free and open to the public.

Join Nashville Public Library New Donelson Branch on Opening Day to hear from members of the Nashville Planning Department and provide attendees with an in-depth understanding of Urban Design Overlays (UDOs) and their significance in shaping urban development. The event aims to educate the audience on the purpose, function, and impact of UDOs, particularly within the context of the Donelson neighborhood.

Speaker Bios

Emily Lange is a planner with the Design Studio of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. Her interests include community engagement and creating equitable, resilient, and inviting public spaces. Emily holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Urban Design from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Eric Hammer is a Senior Planner managing the Design Implementation Group of the Metropolitan Nashville Planning Department. He is passionate about creating prosperous communities through promoting compact, walkable neighborhoods, fiscally resilient municipalities, and sustainable new development. Eric holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, specializing in economic development. He also holds a Bachelor of Science from Canisius College, where he majored in economics, political science, marketing, and urban studies.

Sarah Cook is a Senior Planner with the Design Studio in the Metropolitan Planning Department of Nashville. Throughout her career Sarah has had the opportunity to work on a number of multi-modal projects, community, and comprehensive plans and form-based codes. Sarah is pleased to have joined Metro in January where she can continue to live out her passion in creating communities that are thriving, livable, and promote a high quality of life for residents. When not engaging in planning work Sarah loves dance, hiking, watercolor, and exploring new neighborhoods in the Nashville community.

Agenda

• 5:30 pm: Doors Open

• 5:30 - 6:00: Mix and Mingle

• 6:00: Program Begins

  • Intro / Welcome

  • What Is a UDO

  • How Do they work?

  • Examples of Success

  • Donelson UDO

• 6:45 pm: Q + A

• 7:00 pm: Program Concludes

Conversation with the T3 Team + Publication Release Party

Our publication, High Rise Wood, has been years in the making. Designing and building with wood has always been a major part of small-scale development, but when it comes to high rise buildings, steel, concrete, and glass are the primary materials used. Wood as the primary building material for larger developments is a new concept in the 21st century and this is thanks to new technologies that make mass timber a viable option.  

This event celebrates the new release of our High Rise Wood publication, which is a great resource to have on hand for influencing clients on the benefits of Mass Timber design and construction. The publication shares environmental benefits, various types of Mass Timber construction, imaginative visions by design students and several beautiful design precedents locally and globally. This includes the newest Mass Timber construction in Nashville, T3 Wedgewood-Houston, which we will get to experience during this Forum. We will share an overview for those new to Mass Timber, but we welcome a technically-savvy audience to attend and deepen your knowledge on the subject. 

The conversation that includes member of the T3 Team will highlight T3 as a precedent from the development, design, and construction sides of the project. We will have beer and snacks to enjoy over networking, and you will have the chance to take home a publication.  

T3 Wedgewood-Houston Team

• Developer: Hines

• Design Architect: HASTINGS

• Architect of Record: DLR Group

• Construction: Hoar Construction

Learn more about the Finery Campus here.

Last year, we successfully launched the very first permanent parklet in Nashville as part of the new Parklet Permit Program through the Nashville Department of Transportation (NDOT). It was such a success that we felt compelled to continue the Parklet Design Competition as an extension of PARK(ing) Day Nashville.

We are so excited to partner with NDOT again to reclaim more public space in an imaginative way. This wouldn't be possible without our 2024 Construction Partner, Hardaway Construction. Bagelshop has agreed to be our next steward for reclaiming public space, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for the Donelson community.

Join us for a casual gathering with drinks, snacks, and inspiration!

You will also get the information you need to enter:

• Official Competition Guidelines

• Business Owner Requests

Drop in to our community planning office hours, held at the Looby Community Center every Wednesday in May. This initiative aims to provide people who use the community center or nearby schools with the opportunity to discuss what would improve the neighborhood, share their feedback, and ask questions about urban planning in a casual and accessible setting. The Civic Design Center staff is available during these hours to offer guidance, gather input, and build stronger relationships with the local community. Whether seeking information on transportation improvements, or green spaces, these office hours serve as a valuable resource for fostering collaboration and enhancing civic involvement in shaping the future of the Looby Campus.

Learn more about the project.

The Looby Campus consists of The Looby Center, Buena Vista Park, Hull Jackson Montessori School, and John Early Middle School. See the map below and explore layers that show our areas of interest:

Since 2021, the Civic Design Center has accumulated hundreds of suggestions from the community and beyond to shape hopes for public space in Downtown Madison. We partnered with a dozen different organizations and leaders to create a concept for a new park, adjacent to Madison Station Boulevard that is now built. HDLA created the life-like renderings to bring excitement around the idea and is now creating a schematic design from the community to get an idea of the construction cost.

Now Metro Parks is finalizing designs and construction documents to get this park built!

Drop in to our community planning office hours, held at the Looby Community Center every Wednesday in May. This initiative aims to provide people who use the community center or nearby schools with the opportunity to discuss what would improve the neighborhood, share their feedback, and ask questions about urban planning in a casual and accessible setting. The Civic Design Center staff is available during these hours to offer guidance, gather input, and build stronger relationships with the local community. Whether seeking information on transportation improvements, or green spaces, these office hours serve as a valuable resource for fostering collaboration and enhancing civic involvement in shaping the future of the Looby Campus.

Learn more about the project.

The Looby Campus consists of The Looby Center, Buena Vista Park, Hull Jackson Montessori School, and John Early Middle School. See the map below and explore layers that show our areas of interest:

Drop in to our community planning office hours, held at the Looby Community Center every Wednesday in May. This initiative aims to provide people who use the community center or nearby schools with the opportunity to discuss what would improve the neighborhood, share their feedback, and ask questions about urban planning in a casual and accessible setting. The Civic Design Center staff is available during these hours to offer guidance, gather input, and build stronger relationships with the local community. Whether seeking information on transportation improvements, or green spaces, these office hours serve as a valuable resource for fostering collaboration and enhancing civic involvement in shaping the future of the Looby Campus.

Learn more about the project.

The Looby Campus consists of The Looby Center, Buena Vista Park, Hull Jackson Montessori School, and John Early Middle School. See the map below and explore layers that show our areas of interest:

*This event is for Civic Design Center Sponsors Only*

2024 sponsors receive tickets based on their level. Each Sponsor’s primary contact will receive their unique code via email. Please contact veronica at civicdesigncenter.org if you have misplaced your code. A company email is required for registration.

The Civic Design Center is proud to host a special mixer for our sponsors' emerging and young professionals (under 40). This is the first ever young professional exclusive event we have ever held, and we are excited to provide the opportunity for attendees to engage in a space that welcomes civic leadership. There will be drinks, snacks, a DJ, a photo booth and also fun giveaways! There will also be stations to learn more about how you can become civically involved in both your workplace and your neighborhood.  

Attendees will also get the very first reveal regarding the 2024 Parklet Design Competition brief. 

Drop in to our community planning office hours, held at the Looby Community Center every Wednesday in May. This initiative aims to provide people who use the community center or nearby schools with the opportunity to discuss what would improve the neighborhood, share their feedback, and ask questions about urban planning in a casual and accessible setting. The Civic Design Center staff is available during these hours to offer guidance, gather input, and build stronger relationships with the local community. Whether seeking information on transportation improvements, or green spaces, these office hours serve as a valuable resource for fostering collaboration and enhancing civic involvement in shaping the future of the Looby Campus.

Learn more about the project.

The Looby Campus consists of The Looby Center, Buena Vista Park, Hull Jackson Montessori School, and John Early Middle School. See the map below and explore layers that show our areas of interest:

The Nashville Planning Department Design Studio has posted Downtown Code Design Guidelines for public review. These guidelines are intended to be used by applicants when proposing DTC projects, Planning staff when making recommendations, and the DTC DRC when reviewing applications.

Draft Guidelines + Public Survey Link

Contact Nora Yoo at nora.yoo@nashville.gov with any questions.