The East Tennessee Community Design Center , which was established in 1970, is a nonprofit organization that has been of great assistance to the city’s low and moderate income communities in recent years. Its architectural design volunteers contributed to the creation of the facade improvement program...

...and worked with MPC to create the guidelines that have resulted in such improvements as those at Broadway and Central.

Each semester, the Design Center allies itself with UT’s School of Architecture . The results go beyond academic exercises. The city’s infill housing guidelines, whose graphics were created by a senior architectural student...

...have been used now for two years in fostering attractive infill housing in older Knoxville neighborhoods.

The Design Center has also facilitated various community meetings ranging from Lonsdale to Five Points to downtown.

The traffic calming program is one in which engineering volunteers work with neighborhoods to slow down through traffic.

Plans have become realities in Old North Knoxville, West Hills and other neighborhoods.

The Design Center has helped establish a downtown studio where UT students and Design Center volunteers can meet and develop projects to serve the city.

Recent examples include the Wayfinding Program for visitors downtown, and an energy efficient design for Belle Morris School .