Maria Saporta finished the Atlanta Design Roundtable on Aug. 13 with a clear takeaway: “Good design has to come from the heart.”
It’s the core of civic nonprofit Atlanta Way 2.0’s design roundtable series. Hosted by nonprofit and SaportaReport founder Maria Saporta, each event asks how Atlanta can become a city known for “good design.”
At the roundtable, a group of local design leaders and developers sat down to talk about how Atlanta can encourage “world-class development.” The panelists included developer Jarel Portman of JPX Works, Urban Land Institute Executive Director Daphne Bond-Godfrey, Spelman College Director of Facilities Art Frazier III and developer Jim Irwin of New City Properties.
Saporta and Atlanta architect Melody Harclerode moderated the conversation.
Across an in-depth conversation, the panelists exchanged development stories and struggles, and shared perspectives on how design can shape the city.
“There are two things that are so simple that would make such a difference,” developer Jim Irwin said. Irwin is best known for leading the redevelopment of Ponce City Market and several neighboring developments along the Beltline.
According to Irwin, the first is brand standards — street holes with the same look, sidewalks all the same width — consistency in signage and details. “The way you get around the city is thoughtful and reassuring,” he explained. The second is a blend of world-class buildings and functional structures.
Irwin thinks not every building in a city needs to be world class, but there’s a way to “get a great return and look better” when even the drugstores have thoughtful designs. It boils down to consistency.
But how can Atlanta achieve consistent, strong design?
Developers like Jarrel Portman and Jim Irwin have a host of answers, like combined infrastructure elements, education, collaboration and the occasional negotiation on certain design elements.
Yet one stood out: The ongoing push to give Atlanta a Chief Design Officer. In 2025, Dickens said he was open to the concept. At the Aug. 13 panel, Atlanta Design Festival co-founder Elayne DeLeo explained what the role would look like.
“It’s a position within the mayor’s office that would take a holistic approach to looking at design across all of the initiatives of the office of the mayor,” DeLeo said.
A design officer would oversee buildings, wayfinding, mobility and more. It could create the “consistency” Irwin and Portman talked about. DeLeo said the mayor is “intrigued” with the idea, though he thinks several people within the city already handle the role.
The big change would be hiring “one person from a cohesive perspective,” dedicated to a holistic look at the city’s design. Urban Land Institute’s Daphne Bond-Godfrey said the Chief Design Officer would need to be a “quarterback.”
They need to be able to jump into watershed issues, infrastructure issues, housing issues, and that’s going to take a bit of a unicorn to do that,” Bond-Godfrey said.
As for the types of projects a Chief Design Officer could help realize, the panelists looked to another design issue in Atlanta: The Amtrak station.
Currently, the region’s only Amtrak station is Brookwood Station between Midtown and Buckhead. It runs one intercity route — the Amtrak Crescent, which travels between New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans.
The small station has many problems. First, the Peachtree Road location isn’t near major transit or development options. It is a mile from the nearest MARTA rail station. It also lacks parking or space for major expansions and ADA compliant accommodations.
In recent years there has been a push to move the Amtrak station to downtown Atlanta, near train lines and dense urban development. Previously, Mayor Dickens announced support for the plan. But moving the hub is a challenge.
Centennial Yards, Dickens’ favored location, has underground space for two tracks and a platform set aside. It is enough space for Amtrak right now, but could limit future expansions into a grand terminal.
At the Aug. 13 panel, RAO Design Studio owner Matt Rao gave an update on the search. He said there are solutions for the site that could allow up to six tracks, like an arc to bypass the city, much like the Beltline circles Atlanta.
According to Rao, it would be “a new home, not just for Amtrak, but for any kind of rail we want to do in the city of Atlanta and in the region.”
The proposals are still in early stages, but Saporta emphasized how consequential the decision could be for Atlanta — both from a transit and a design perspective.
“The whole idea is we want to make sure we have a vision for what Atlanta can be 50 years from now,” Saporta said.
