“More than 30 years after Atlanta’s Freedom Park emerged from successful grassroots efforts to block a highway expansion, the need for a new vision for the park’s future has arisen. Seeking to unify constituent desires around economic viability alongside ecological value, some 70 potential initiatives were identified and prioritized according to ease of implementation, duration, and cost. Told in a compelling narrative, the People’s Plan exemplifies the imperative goals we need to achieve if we are truly to move forward as socially equitable communities.”
– 2021 ASLA National Awards Jury
In the late 20th century, Atlanta faced a critical juncture as a proposed highway threatened to tear through seven urban communities. From this crisis emerged a powerful grassroots movement whose victory not only halted the highway but birthed Freedom Park, a 130-acre green space stretching over 2.5 miles.
For years, Freedom Park existed as a patchwork of disconnected green spaces, its full potential unrealized. The Freedom Park Conservancy initiated a master planning process to transform this infrastructural “scar tissue” into “connective tissue” linking the community. The challenge: honor the park’s legacy of civic action while meeting the evolving needs of a diverse, multigenerational constituency.
Through virtual platforms, interactive tools, and targeted outreach, a true “People’s Plan” was created, identifying over 70 potential projects rooted in three guiding principles: Assembly, Education, and Connection. The final framework acknowledges Freedom Park’s position as a nexus of civil rights history, connecting Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthplace with the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library via the John Lewis Freedom Parkway.
By interweaving local, national, and international significance, the park tells a uniquely American story of resilience and progress. Freedom Park stands as a living testament to hard-won victories and the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice.
Winner, 2021 Honor Award – Analysis and Planning, ASLA National
Lynwood Mega-Playground
Inspired by the city’s rich history of aerospace research and manufacturing, Lynwood Mega-Playground brings a dynamic space exploration-themed playground to the heart of the Central Los Angeles city.
Completed in Fall 2024, the playground transforms the Northwest corner of Lynwood Park into a colorful spectacle with super-sized play features including a...
Gantry Plaza State Park
Once a working waterfront teeming with barges, tugboats, and rail cars, the Hunter’s Point shoreline slowly succumbed to the realities of the Post-Industrial Age and this spectacular site was left to deteriorate. Thomas Balsley Associates, together with Weintraub di Domenico, envisioned Gantry Plaza State Park as a place that celebrates its past, future, skyli...
Bensonhurst Park
Bensonhurst Park is part of the larger Shore Parkway, an 816.1-acre collection of parks that stretches across Brooklyn and Queens. Today, the site provides a series of pathways, passive seating areas, recreational fields and a playground.
SWA/Balsley created a master plan for the redesign of the north end of the park and final design and construction doc...
Tianjin Culture Park
In the strategy for the upcoming integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, the city of Tianjin has been identified as an advanced national manufacture and research base, as well as a core area of international shipping, a financial innovation demonstration zone, and a pilot region for the overall reformation of the area. The location of the SWA-desig...