Event days in Atlanta transform our city. Downtown becomes a shared civic experience, with streets humming with movement and anticipation as residents and visitors flow between venues, public spaces, and cultural destinations. The vitality of Downtown extends far beyond major events. On any given day, students, workers, tourists, conventioneers, and locals move through the district, contributing to an urban environment defined by constant activity, layered experiences, and evolving patterns of movement. Anchored by its historic core and shaped by a network of major corridors, Downtown offers an experience that reaches well beyond its most familiar pathways.
As both everyday activity and large-scale events continue to draw people across the district, an important opportunity emerges: weaving these destinations together into a more connected and intuitive pedestrian experience. While many visitors naturally gravitate toward established routes and primary corridors, strengthening the visibility and continuity of connections throughout Downtown can encourage broader exploration and reinforce perceptions of accessibility, walkability, and comfort within the public realm.
Wayfinding becomes a critical tool in shaping that experience. By creating clearer pedestrian connections, reinforcing intuitive pathways, and establishing new “main routes” between venues, attractions, institutions, and gathering spaces, the system helps transform movement through Downtown into part of the experience itself. The result is a more seamless and welcoming environment—one that supports both daily navigation and peak event activity while encouraging people to explore with confidence and engage more fully with Downtown as a cohesive and connected urban destination.
The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) understood the value of investing in this type of wayfinding infrastructure, as well as the importance of seizing the right moment to do so. Downtown currently sees over 52 million visitors annually and this figure is expected to increase as the city prepares for the next wave of events, including the much-anticipated World Cup. In 2024, ADID / Central Atlanta Progress hired Perkins&Will, in partnership with Sizemore Group and Dashboard, to reimagine and redesign Atlanta’s wayfinding system.
The last wayfinding and signage installation was in 2006, and required improvement to maintain quality, relevance, and effectiveness. Signs were in disrepair and lacking useful information. They also did little to express the rich legacy and unique character of Downtown Atlanta. Perkins&Will, along with our consulting team partners, conducted multiple layers of community engagement to glean how the variety of Downtown stakeholders, visitors, and residents experience, or wish to experience, the area. What is uniquely Atlanta? Where are people going? Where should they be going, but are not because of perceived distance? We sought to dig in to how to authentically express Atlanta to locals and visitors alike, and encourage both to experience Downtown in new ways.
As a result of this engagement, two storylines unfolded. One that encompassed Atlanta’s vibrance and dynamic energy, from sports to nightlife. Another centered around the city’s rhythm and strength—values rooted in inclusion, warmth, and Front Porch Hospitality. The final concept creates a blend of the two, using vivid sunset hues and bold lettering to engage pedestrians along the pathways.
Maps and signage feature concentric circles to help users estimate travel time and distance from a central point, helping to mitigate the perception that Downtown isn’t walkable.
As the signs begin to advance into the installation phase, we hope this initiative will shape the way visitors and residents alike experience Atlanta. The implementation of this signage will not only help move people more fluidly through the city, but inspire exploration and a deeper connection to Downtown Atlanta, both in its present character and in its continued evolution as a premier global destination for culture, events, and civic life.
Check out the sign installation here: Instagram
This is sponsored content.
