FORWARD City Labs

Design, Planning and Development Consulting Services





Forward City Labs provides Design, Planning and Development consulting services focusing on infill mixed-use projects of ALL SCALES. We strive to achieve policy goals and development targets through tailored design solutions, community building, and strategic partnerships. 

About us


Forward City Labs specializes in consulting services for infill mixed-use projects of varying scales, focusing on planning, design, and real estate development. Our clients include public agencies, school districts, landowners, profit and nonprofit developers, financial institutions, and community organizations. We offer comprehensive services, including site planning, feasibility studies, community outreach, negotiation, land transactions, grant support, portfolio strategy, and full-scale project management. Our portfolio encompasses master plan communities, transit-oriented developments, public-private partnerships, downtown plans, workforce housing, affordable housing, and education campuses.


At Forward City Labs, we prioritize achieving policy objectives and development targets through customized design solutions, community engagement, strategic partnerships, and effective implementation. Our team of design and development professionals possesses expertise in project management, design management, land transactions, financing, and community development. We continuously invest in our team and the profession, actively participating in legislative updates and advocacy and staying abreast of evolving state laws, regulations, financing initiatives, and community priorities. This enables us to provide our clients with realistic and actionable deliverables.


Atisha Varshney founded Forward City Labs in 2020, an innovative business model that brings together allied professionals to close the gap in design and development. Located in San Jose Downtown, Forward City Labs is a certified DBE, SBE and MWBE enterprise. 


Our Approach:


Recognizing the disparity between policy goals and the obstacles faced by developers, government agencies, and property owners, our organization places a high priority on delivering development projects that seamlessly integrate custom design solutions grounded in real-world development conditions. By engaging in collaborative processes, we harness the power of strategic partnerships and draw upon our extensive understanding of implementable resources. Our comprehensive approach involves meticulous observation, incisive analysis, and equity-based solutions, anchored in resilient planning principles, awareness of the underwriting process and holistic implementation strategies.

Practice Area 

Design and Development

We help build communities that advance social well-being and equity and are climate-forward.  We provide a complete design to development services from understanding site capacity and constraints, program design,  community perspective and complete pre-development project management. 

Research and Innovation

Informed by the development work, we actively participate in policy updates on multifaceted urban problems like affordable lifestyles, alternate mobility, smart city integration, place-making concepts, resilience, and community building. We collaborate with partners, industry leaders, groups with aligned interests, and users to get a holistic view.

Community Building

We believe that for a project or plan to be truly effective, it needs to be supported by the community. Our public engagement process is rooted in 3 principles: engage, educate, and involve. We bring various in-person and digital tools, which we tailor to the project needs and help build community trust. 

Client Types

Recent Clients


WE CONSTANTLY EVOLVE OUR PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENT UNORTHODOX SOLUTIONS WHEN WORKING ON PROJECT-SPECIFIC PROBLEMS TO DELIVER AN IMPLEMENTABLE REAL ESTATE PROJECT.