Project Spotlight – Town Center Creative Placemaking

Discover the transformative project that brought creative placemaking to the bustling Town Center community in Cobb County, Georgia.
The Town Center community is a vibrant and bustling area located in Cobb County, Georgia, known for its dynamic mix of educational institutions, commercial centers, transportation infrastructure, and recreational amenities. This diverse district includes major landmarks such as Kennesaw State University, the Town Center Mall, key regional expressways and major roadways, Cobb County International Airport, and Aviation Park. In addition to these, the community is surrounded by numerous residential neighborhoods and several highly popular hiking and biking trails that contribute to the area’s active lifestyle.
Despite its dense population and wealth of assets, the Town Center area currently suffers from a notable lack of public gathering spaces that encourage social interaction and community engagement. Many residents and visitors alike are unaware of some of the area’s hidden gems, such as the Noonday Creek Trail, which offers scenic opportunities for outdoor recreation and connection with nature.
To address these challenges and leverage the community’s existing strengths, the Town Center Community Alliance engaged TSW in partnership with the Chattanooga-based placemaking firm Little Things Lab. This collaboration was tasked with developing creative, innovative recommendations aimed at enhancing the area’s major corridors. The goal was to highlight and amplify Town Center’s unique features while designing new elements to draw more visitors, encourage greater use by residents, and expand safe opportunities for community activities and social engagement.
The process spanned eight months and was comprehensive in scope, including multiple site visits, a series of public engagement activities to gather community input, a detailed existing conditions analysis, and an in-depth review of prior planning efforts. The culmination of this work resulted in well-informed, thoughtfully crafted final recommendations designed to foster a stronger sense of place, improve connectivity, and enhance the overall quality of life for all who live, work, and visit Town Center.

The American Planning Association (APA) defines creative placemaking as a process where community members from public, private, and non-profit sectors work together to strategically shape the physical and social character of their community around art and culture to increase vibrancy, improve economic conditions and build capacity among residents to take ownership of their communities. With this goal in mind, the planning team worked with community members to define a vision for the area and then bring that vision to life through design recommendations.
The team identified five placemaking categories on which to focus:

Special Places
Underpass Enhancement
Trail Identification Improvements

Safety Through Art

Events and Programming in Public Parks and Spaces
Project Spotlight – Town Center Creative Placemaking