About Us
Philosophy + History
Perez Planning + Design, LLC (PP+D) is a research-based planning and design firm that lives at the intersection of people, space, and the built and natural environment. We focus on working with our clients to thoughtfully and strategically integrate these key elements to plan, design, and implement a public realm that is viable, responsive, dynamic, and resilient. Stated simply, we work collaboratively with our clients in Re+Defining the Public Realm.
PP+D believes that through our collaborative, research-based planning and design process, public realm planning and design projects can help not only improve the built and natural environment but also address some of the complex social, economic, and environmental issues that community face, such as crime/community safety, low-educational attainment, food deserts, poverty, flooding, affordable housing, environmental contamination, etc.
Through the years and through professional practice and research, we've collected examples, case studies, and best practices that illustrate this power and enjoy sharing them with our Clients and communities. These case studies help educate, inspire, and empower communities to consider how the principles from these best practices may be implemented in their communities to enact change.
PP+D was founded by Carlos F. Perez in 2014 in order to provide clients with client-focused, responsive, and thoughtful public realm planning and design consulting services. PP+D focuses on providing Parks and Recreation System Planning + Design, Active Transportation Planning + Design, Urban Design + Landscape Architecture consulting services.
Planning + Design Team
Carlos F. Perez, PLA | President + Founder
Carlos F. Perez has dedicated his career to collaboratively planning and designing livable communities through strategic public realm design. His academic background and professional expertise in Parks and Recreation System Master Planning, Active Transportation Planning and Design, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture provide him with a unique perspective and deep understanding of the multifaceted role the public realm plays in shaping vibrant, inclusive communities.
Carlos has led or contributed to more than 100 Parks and Recreation System Master Plans and park planning projects across the United States. His work spans communities such as Seattle, WA; Downtown San Diego, CA; Clark County, NV; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, NC; Atlanta and Gwinnett County, GA; Miami and Miami-Dade County, FL; Sarasota County, FL; and Norfolk and Virginia Beach, VA.
In addition to parks planning, Carlos is a recognized leader in Active Transportation Planning and Design. He served as a lead planner and designer for the PATH Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta that has developed over 300 miles of trails and bicycle infrastructure throughout the metro area. Notable projects that Perez Planning + Design has completed include multiple segments of the Atlanta BeltLine (Northeast Trail Segments 1 and 3, Northwest Trail Segment 2, Southside Trail Segment 6), PATH 400, PATH Parkway, Peachtree Creek Greenway, and the Centennial Olympic Park Signature Cycle Track.
Carlos serves on the boards of the City Parks Alliance and the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, and is a member of the Advisory Council for the College of Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He frequently speaks at conferences, sharing his passion, insights, and lessons learned in parks and active transportation planning and design.
Before founding Perez Planning + Design, LLC, Carlos co-led AECOM’s (formerly Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc.) Parks and Open Space System Planning and Design practice. During his tenure, he led and collaborated on numerous high-impact projects and helped establish many of the firm’s enduring planning and design processes.
Carlos holds a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida, a Master’s in City and Regional Planning with a specialization in Transportation, and a Master of Science in Architecture with a concentration in Urban Design from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He lives in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood with his wife, Iliet.
Hayley Harrison, PLA | Senior Landscape Architect
Hayley is a Registered Landscape Architect that specializes in the development of design development and construction documents. Hayley seeks to provide designs that recognize the natural landscape and local cultural context. She works collaboratively with clients as partners in creating designs that are realistic in budgetary, maintenance, and aesthetic expectations in order to great spaces to visit and inhabit with unintrusive and logical maintenance regimes. Halley received a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida.
Yan Duan, AICP | Urban Designer + Planner
Yan Duan is an urban designer and planner that specializes in research, design, and visual communications. She combines her expertise in these three areas to develop thoughtful, practical, and innovative active transportation, parks planning, and urban design solutions.
Yan received her undergraduate degree in Engineering in Urban Planning from the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the Xi'an University of Technology in P.R. China; her Master’s Degree in Urban Planning with a specialization in Urban Design from the University at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) School of Architecture and Planning; and completed a Design Discovery, Urban Planning and Urban Design Summer Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Nick Stephens, AICP | Urban Planner
Nick Stephens is a planner who is dedicated to planning and designing park systems and trail networks that enrich communities, encourage active transportation, and invigorate the local ecology. With a diverse academic and professional background, Nick’s experience supports a passion for engaging residents to create vibrant, walkable, and bikeable public spaces for their communities. Nick is an Atlanta native, an avid biker since childhood, and a regular volunteer in efforts to increase native plants and improve the public realm in his hometown. Nick earned his undergraduate degree in Anthropology from Columbia University, NY; and his Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning, with a specialization in Urban Design, from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Kevan Klosterwill, PhD | Associate Planner + Designer
Dr. Kevan Klosterwill is a landscape designer and planner whose experience spans roles such as Lead Park Planner for Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, and consulting on parks and cultural landscape documentation projects across the United States. He also brings expertise in researching historic and contemporary community engagement practices, with publications in leading scholarly journals. His forthcoming book explores the participatory planning practices of Olmsted protégé Warren H. Manning. Kevan earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia, and his Doctoral degree in Constructed Environments from the University of Virginia.