The San Carlos Downtown Specific Plan and Streetscape Master Plan has been recognized with a 2026 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan (Merit) by APA California Northern Section.
We worked alongside City staff through more than three years of community engagement to develop a plan that rethinks how downtown San Carlos functions - widened sidewalks, protected bike lanes, improved outdoor dining, and urban greening - grounded in what residents said they needed.
The plan is already moving into implementation, with Harrington Park as the first project reflecting that community vision. This recognition belongs to the @cityofsancarlos and everyone who helped shape it.
Santa Clara’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan has been adopted. Shaped by input from more than 1,800 residents, the plan charts a long-term path to expand park access in a city where land for new open space is limited.
We worked with @santaclaracity to think beyond traditional park acquisition - identifying school district partnerships, development opportunities, aquatic improvements, and future indoor recreation facilities as the tools for closing gaps in a built-out community.
The result is a plan grounded in equity: ensuring residents of all ages and abilities have meaningful access to parks and recreation, not just those in proximity to existing amenities.
Last night, we hosted Pennsylvania’s Women’s Affordable Housing Network at our Philadelphia office for an evening of peer connection across the affordable housing sector.
Lindsey Samsi of @pennrosecompany spoke to the partnership between WRT and Pennrose in affordable housing development. Darnetta Arce of @bsncphilly and @lnpcdc reflected on the Greater Sharswood Blumberg Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan and the community relationships that make that work possible.
Grateful to WAHN for bringing this network together and to Lindsey and Darnetta for sharing their perspectives.
When the @cityoffresno began updating the Tower District Specific Plan for the first time since the 1990s, one thing was clear: the future of Tower could not be decided without the people who call it home.
The plan would guide what could be built, preserved, and changed in one of Fresno’s most recognizable communities. Because of this, Tower residents were asked to share their vision for the community’s future.
Conversations happened at @towerporchfest , farmers markets, schools, through door knocking, rigorous online engagement, and in multiple languages.
The response from Tower neighbors was powerful.
After a packed community workshop in the Tower District, planners said they had never seen so many people attend a meeting like this in their entire careers.
Planning and outreach efforts were led by Urban Diversity Design, @wrtdesign , the City of Fresno Long Range Planning Department, the Tower District Implementation Committee and Every Neighborhood Partnership. In 2025, the City of Fresno’s Tower District planning process received regional recognition from the @americanplanningassociation for excellence in communications and outreach.
The award acknowledged a process where those most impacted by a city’s plan were given a seat at the decision-making table.
This Earth Day, we’re reflecting on what it means to invest in public landscapes. At Lake Merritt, the impact of planning and design is measured over time.
A center of public life in the City of Oakland for over a century, the historic boathouse and surrounding park had fallen into disrepair. Working with @oakland we restored the lakefront as a public resource to reconnect shoreline paths, improve access across neighborhoods, and manage stormwater.
Years later, this work demonstrates how prioritizing ecological health and public access creates lasting value for communities. #earthday
The Donoe Redevelopment in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands delivers 84 units of hurricane-resilient, energy-independent affordable housing designed around long-term community wellbeing.
After Hurricanes Marilyn, Irma, and Maria, WRT led the master planning and design of this 11-acre neighborhood to help displaced residents return to homes built for the realities of a changing climate.
With passive ventilation, shaded balconies, and an on-site solar microgrid with battery storage, the project responds to the Caribbean environment while supporting long-term affordability. Resilience is not only about weathering the next storm. It is about helping communities endure, recover, and thrive.
A partnership made possible by Pennrose, Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority, Jackson Development Company, LLC, J. Benton Construction, LLC, and Consigli Construction Co., Inc.
Chinatown’s newest affordable housing development (Man An House 萬安樓) offers 51 fully affordable units on N 9th St., serving senior residents. On the eastern wall of the building, Philadelphia-based muralist @chenlin.cai has created something powerful.
Commissioned by @chinatownpcdc , the mural draws from the beloved “History of Chinatown” at 10th & Winter St. - a work painted in resistance to the Vine Street Expressway that divided the neighborhood in the 1960s, and in celebration of Chinatown’s 125th anniversary in Philadelphia. That original mural, by artists Arturo Ho, Giz, N. Phung, and H. Tran, overflows with imagery: railroad workers, laundry laborers, a family sharing tea, a father and son bent over a book.
Chenlin Cai’s new mural carries that spirit forward - adding fresh color and new chapters to a story still being written.
A partnership made possible by @pennrosecompany .
The Berkeley waterfront has a long history of passionate advocates. Ensuring that history includes everyone took intentional work.
WRT partnered with public engagement consultant Susan Moffat to design the New Voices Partnership - a program that recruited and trained community members who are often left out of park planning processes to participate alongside established stakeholders in shaping the future of North Basin Strip, a 20-acre shoreline site on the Berkeley waterfront and the last major undeveloped parcel in McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.
What made this effort distinct was its scope beyond a single site. Participants left with the skills and confidence to engage in future planning processes - not just this one.
Grateful to the organizations whose trust and partnership made this work possible: @borp_org , @friends_of_five_creeks , @goldengatebirdalliance , @jseicommunity , @kalaartinstitute , @latinooutdoors_sfbayarea , @oaklandgoesoutdoors , @richcityrides , @scraperbiketeam , and @yesn2n . Grant funding provided by @sfbay_restore . Project managed by @ebrpd .
At @westtownschool the arts have always played a vital role in how students learn to see themselves and one another. The renewal of the Center for the Living Arts was an opportunity to align the building with that purpose. In close collaboration with the Westtown community, WRT led a multi-phase transformation that introduced new rehearsal spaces, visual arts classrooms, a gallery, and a flexible performance space, while improving accessibility throughout. The design is grounded in the realities of daily use and in the understanding that the environments where students create, perform, and experiment shape their confidence and sense of possibility. Spaces that invite creative exploration are learning environments in their own right.
Community is reflected in Norfolk’s many “third places,” public spaces where neighbors gather, socialize, and build relationships outside of work and home. These spaces help define what it means to live in Norfolk, and why so many citizens choose to stay.
In a time of regional growth and demographic change, Norfolk’s history and character can be a powerful asset. It draws new residents, retains longtime neighbors, and connects us to each other. By investing in stories, spaces, and people, we ensure identity isn’t just preserved, but celebrated.
By 2050, residents hope to see this tapestry grow even richer. This future should be rooted in preserving landmarks, activating the waterfront, and fostering pride and belonging across the city.
Read the full plan:
As wildfires, climate related events, and emergency calls grow in frequency and intensity, communities are rethinking how critical civic infrastructure is planned and designed.
San Geronimo Valley and the greater Marin County area are planning a new fire station and all hazard response facility that will serve as the operational headquarters for the department’s expanding emergency response efforts. Working with @marincountyfire and community partners, the planning and design process integrates operational needs with the valley’s ecological systems, rural character, and long term community well being.
Follow along as planning progresses and community input helps shape the future home for San Geronimo’s emergency response services.
Schools are not isolated buildings. They are living systems shaped by ecology, pedagogy, and community.
At Wilmington Friends School, we approached the Lower School renovation as a learning ecology, strengthening connections between classrooms and landscape, aligning space with child centered teaching, and advancing climate responsibility through adaptive reuse.
We believe landscape architects and designers shape more than campuses. We shape the environments where curiosity, belonging, and resilience take root for a lifetime.
