In urban development, community voices aren’t just important—they are essential. Traditional consultation models are no longer enough. True co-creation leads to thriving, equitable, and regenerative communities. This webinar explores the transformative potential of deep, sustained community engagement in Transit-Oriented Development TOD) projects. Through real-world examples and interactive activities, Sheba Ross and Lindsey Willke of HKS illustrate how moving along the engagement spectrum—from informing to amplifying—can lead to more vibrant, equitable, and sustainable urban spaces. Webinar participants will engage in exercises and discuss strategies for integrating feedback into the design process, and gain a clear understanding of how a comprehensive and inclusive community engagement strategy can enhance urban development projects.

What You’ll Gain

• Strategies for moving from informing to amplifying community voices
  Real-world examples of successful engagement in TOD projects
• Interactive exercises to help integrate community feedback into design solutions
• As digital transformation and AI reshape industries, human connection remains the key to effective planning. This session will explore how people—not just technology—should drive urban development.

Webinar Speakers

 
Sheba Ross, HKS – AICP CUD, Just Communities AP CDT, LEED AP

Sheba leads HKS’s Cities and Communities practice, focusing on purposeful urban growth, connection, and revitalization. With over two decades in the profession, Sheba emphasizes culturally rich and environmentally conscious projects, enhancing both buildings and the spaces between them. Her work centers on storytelling and detailoriented master planning to empower the private and public sectors. Sheba serves on ULI Atlanta’s Advisory Board and chairs key leadership programs. Through HKS projects and work with ULI TAP, she collaborates with mayors and city council leaders across Georgia and the U.S. She also engages in CitizenHKS, the firm’s public interest program, to position downtowns and transitoriented developments for impactful change. Recently, she advised seven mayors on the Mayors’ Institute on City Design’s National Taskforce and spoke at UN COP 28 and the World Green Economy Summit. Sheba was recognized by the ULI Atlanta WLI ChangeMakers program as one of the most influential women in real estate in Atlanta. Sheba holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Anna University (India) and a Master of Urban Design from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Lindsey Willke, HKS – AIA, LEED Green Associate

As a Senior Urban Designer at HKS, Lindsey is an architect and urban designer in the Cities and Communities practice. Lindsey’s experiences include work across the country from eco-district and innovation district planning, extensive community engagement focused urban design and transit- oriented development planning. Lindsey interests and expertise in urban design stem from a passion in thinking across scales from cities and regions to the qualities of the built environment that impact everyday life at the human scale. She believes great urban design solutions stem from a qualitative understanding of place through data and research balanced by a qualitative understanding of the community’s lived experiences uncovered through creative engagement. A graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Clemson University and University of Colorado Denver, Lindsey holds master’s degrees in architecture and urban design.