Chattanooga Urban Design Studio

What Chattanooga Urban Design Studio does

Chattanooga Urban Design Studio (operating as Chattanooga Design Studio) is an independent 501c3 non-profit community resource headquartered at 850 Market Street, Suite 206, Miller Plaza, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The studio promotes excellence in urban design through education, facilitation, and collaboration, focusing on two principal areas: improving downtown Chattanooga's public realm (parks, streetscapes, plazas, squares, and trails) and enhancing downtown-adjacent urban neighborhoods through visioning and connectivity plans. Its portfolio spans a quarterly CIVIQ speaker series, the Vibrant Neighborhoods program (including Westside EVOLVES and the South Broad District Study), university collaborations with the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design and Auburn University, the CITYSCAPES publication series (I–III), Public Life Studies (e.g., the Porch pilot at Patten Towers), and named project engagements such as Civic Center District planning (with Sasaki, Tinker Ma, and James Lima Planning + Development), Optimizing Downtown Streets (with Speck-Dempsey and Stantec Urban Places), the Public Realm Action Plan for the Innovation District (with the Enterprise Center and Gehl Studio), and Montague Park (with Reed-Hilderbrand).

The studio operates through a community-led go-to-market model: project requests are submitted by municipal officials, city staff, neighborhood groups, civic non-profits, visiting consultants, and local developers via a Google Forms application, and are reviewed against a downtown-focused geographic footprint. It is not a technology company; the underlying capability is human facilitation, design review, community engagement, and convening of national design firms, with no proprietary software, APIs, or AI/ML components. Underlying technology is limited to standard web and social channels (chattanoogastudio.com, Instagram, email newsletter) used for outreach and education rather than product delivery.

The revenue model is donations and contributions. Operating support comes primarily from two named foundation funders — Benwood Foundation and Lyndhurst Foundation — supplemented by CARTA and other partners, with no fee-for-service revenue stream and no publicly disclosed financials. The organization is governed by a Board of Directors that includes the Mayor of Chattanooga, representatives of RiverCity Company, Chattanooga Land Company, Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center, and other civic leaders, and is led by Executive Director Eric Myers. The current entity was re-established in 2015, building on the legacy of the original Riverfront/Downtown Planning and Design Center that operated from 1981 to 2005.

Name

Chattanooga Urban Design Studio

Legal name

Chattanooga Design Studio

Website

https://chattanoogastudio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Chattanooga Urban Design Studio is an independent 501c3 non-profit that promotes excellence in urban design through education, facilitation, and collaboration, serving the City of Chattanooga, neighborhood groups, and civic organizations on parks, streetscapes, plazas, and downtown-adjacent neighborhood projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Design Services

NAICS

Landscape Architectural Services (54132), Architectural Services (541310)

akta.pro primary industry

Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs (Digital Planning, Civic Tech for Cities) (BPAIANAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

Keywords

• Urban design services
• Community planning
• Public realm consulting
• Nonprofit design studio
• Neighborhood visioning

Headquarters

HQ city

Chattanooga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Support: The organization accepts charitable donations from individuals and organizations to support their mission of promoting excellence in urban design through education, facilitation, and collaboration in Chattanooga.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Chattanooga Urban Design Studio is an independent 501c3 non-profit that promotes excellence in urban design through education, facilitation, and collaboration. It delivers consulting and programming focused on improving downtown Chattanooga's public realm (parks, streetscapes, plazas, trails) and enhancing downtown-adjacent urban neighborhoods. Services are provided as a community resource to municipal government, neighborhood groups, civic non-profits, and local developers within a defined downtown geographic footprint.

Product overview

Chattanooga Design Studio is an independent non-profit organization offering a portfolio of urban design services rather than a unified technology product. The core offerings include: (1) CIVIQ, a quarterly speaker series honoring Robert Taylor; (2) Public Realm Services guiding parks, streetscapes, and plaza improvements; (3) Vibrant Neighborhoods planning for downtown-adjacent areas; (4) University Collaborations with regional institutions; (5) CITYSCAPES research publications; (6) Public Life Studies examining space usage; (7) an Internship Program for students; and (8) various project services including Civic Center planning, Downtown Streets optimization, the Public Realm Action Plan, Bus Stop Pilot, and The Porch pilot project. The organization operates through education, facilitation, and collaboration rather than technology products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CIVIQ: A quarterly speaker series honoring Robert Taylor that showcases national and international movements in urban design. The free public events position the community to feel inspired, informed, and activated on urban design topics.

Products and services

• CIVIQ Free quarterly public speaker series showcasing national and international movements in urban design, named in honor of inaugural staff member Robert Taylor. The program positions the Chattanooga community to feel inspired, informed, and activated on urban design topics through events featuring prominent speakers from urban planning, landscape architecture, and civic design fields.
• Public Realm Services

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, important and minor.

• Enterprise CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner on Public Realm Action Plan for the Innovation District and other projects. The Enterprise Center focuses on technology and innovation in Chattanooga.
• Reed-Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture FirmcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead design collaborator on Montague Park project, working with the City of Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors Department and the Design Studio.
• SasakicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal integrated design firm leading the Civic Center District consultant team selected by the studio and steering committee.
• Tinker MacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal architecture, interior design and planning firm part of the Civic Center District consultant team.
• James Lima Planning + DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUrban economic strategist firm on the Civic Center District consultant team.
• Gehl StudioimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with The Enterprise Center and Chattanooga Design Studio on the Public Realm Action Plan for the Innovation District in 2018.
• University of Tennessee College of Architecture and DesignimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing university collaboration providing semester-long student engagements on challenging urban design sites. Multiple projects documented from 2018-2022 including Dixie Yarns, James A. Henry, Orchard Knob, Urban Transects, and The Bessie Hall.
• Auburn University School of ArchitectureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner for the 2018 Innovation District Housing project.
• Chattanooga Public LibraryimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner location for CIVIQ events and program support.
• Trust for Public LandimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership support for CIVIQ events including the Thomas Woltz presentation and other programming.
• RiverCity CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing partner on multiple projects including Broad Street reimagining and riverfront parks evolution.
• Speck-DempseyimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner with Stantec Urban Places on the Optimizing Downtown Streets project to extend Frazier Avenue revitalization throughout downtown.
• Stantec Urban PlacesimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating with Speck-Dempsey and the City of Chattanooga on downtown streets optimization project.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Project for Public Spaces: National 501c3 non-profit dedicated to placemaking and improving public spaces through community-driven engagement. Highly comparable as a non-profit urban design facilitator with analogous mission, programming, and educational speaker series.
• Smart Growth America: National non-profit coalition advocating for walkable, mixed-use urban development. Comparable as a non-profit focused on urban planning, public realm, and community development with similar educational and advocacy functions.
• WXY architecture + urban design: Urban design and architecture firm with civic engagement expertise, formerly including Speck Associates. Comparable as a peer in people-centered urban planning and has worked with Speck-Dempsey on Chattanooga's downtown streets optimization.
• Gehl Studio: Urban design consultancy focused on people-first public realm planning. Comparable as a core collaborator (Public Realm Action Plan 2018) and operates in the same niche of public life studies, plaza and street design that Chattanooga Design Studio facilitates.
• Reed-Hilderbrand: Landscape architecture firm specializing in parks, campuses, and urban open space. Directly comparable as the lead designer on Montague Park, and operates at the intersection of public realm design and civic collaboration that defines CDS's mission.
• Center for Active Design: Non-profit promoting design strategies that improve public health and quality of life. Comparable as a non-profit design organization focused on built-environment outcomes through research, advocacy, and community engagement.

Broad incumbents

• Sasaki: Global integrated design firm with landscape architecture, planning, and urban design practices. Comparable as the lead consultant on Chattanooga's Civic Center District project and operates across the same urban planning and public realm category at broader scale.
• Stantec Urban Places: Multi-disciplinary design practice within Stantec focused on urban planning, mobility, and public realm. Comparable as a partner on Optimizing Downtown Streets and operates in the same urban design and streetscape planning space.
• Urban Land Institute: National non-profit research and education organization focused on land use and real estate development. Comparable as a larger-scale non-profit operating in urban planning and community development, with educational programming analogous to CIVIQ.

Regional players

• RiverCity Company: Chattanooga-based non-profit focused on downtown and riverfront revitalization. Highly comparable as a long-standing partner organization working on overlapping projects (Broad Street, Riverfront Parks) in the same geographic footprint.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/chattanoogastudio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chattanooga Urban Design Studio