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Linking Buford Highway Redevelopment with the Peachtree Greenway, Brookhaven, GA

2017-12 , Carmenate, Sigal , Dodson, Christy , Douglass, Sara , Epstein, Dara , Erwin, Alexandra , French, Megan , Hirt, Mary , McIntosh, Chris , Caitlin, Mildner , Rogers, Ian Michael , Saxton, John , Waidhas, Kelsey

The sponsor and client for this studio was the City of Brookhaven, where the 3-mile long Buford Highway was identified as a rapidly transforming character area in the City’s Comprehensive Plan. The goal of the Studio was to undertake a comprehensive planning process supported by public engagement, that evaluated the transportation, housing, environmental and land use impacts of a new greenway planned to parallel a seven-lane arterial that has been the most culturally diverse corridor in Atlanta. Students grappled with issues of pedestrian safety, multi-modal connectivity, housing affordability, gentrification and urban heat islands in the production of guidelines and implementation program for the sensitive redevelopment of this important corridor. Finally, students organized and presented their recommendations to the staff, public, and elected officials. The recommended plan envisions improvements to Buford Highway that follow the principles of Complete Streets and provides appropriate space for transit, pedestrians and bikes. It also envisions redevelopment of underutilized property in this corridor to encourage a pattern of mixed-use development that would preserve affordable housing, balance jobs and housing, and improve multi-modal connectivity by taking strategic advantage of both the highway frontage and the greenway.

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Sustainable Wastewater Systems for Texas Colonias: Alternatives Analysis for El Paso County

2017-08 , Moreno, Marcela

Government institutions and non-governmental organizations have made great strides in improving infrastructure and services to colonias (Spanish for communities or neighborhoods) in Texas. Colonias are a response to the lack of affordable housing along the border but a high demand for cheap labor in agriculture, manufacturing and service industries. These communities lack basic infrastructure like accessible roads, electricity, and wastewater and water services. Despite progress made from local, state and federal initiatives to bring colonias to these municipal services, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, there are still 337 communities that fall under the most critical need area (red). The majority located in El Paso County, located on the western border of Texas and Mexico. Many of these colonias that continue to lack access to wastewater are located in remote areas and may rely on either failing septic systems, cesspools or outhouses that may pose a risk to private wells. Adequate wastewater disposal systems are critical to preventing contaminated water from harming colonias residents and their surrounding communities, and the ecosystem of the Rio Grande Valley. Through analysis of the current state of these colonias, research on different wastewater solutions being implemented around the world, and interviews with colonia experts, a dry composting toilet is proposed for policy makers, community activists, and wastewater utilities to consider for implementation.

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Do Young Children Affect Travel Behavior for Parents in Atlanta?

2017-05 , Estes, Emily

It is well researched that the physical environment can influence mode choices such as transit or walking. However, does having dependent children also play a significant role in mode choice? This paper will investigate how having children five years old and younger can affect the travel behavior of parents in Metro Atlanta. Travel survey data from the Atlanta Regional Commission is used to delineate what variables lead to different mode choices, with specific attention to transit and walk trips in the region. Due to the significant role accessible child care facilities plays on the working population, spatial mapping is used to illustrate the distribution of child care facilities in the City of Atlanta. Finally, this report will highlight how gender plays an overall role in the travel behavior of parents and recommend policies to help offset associated challenges.

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Assessing Public Transit Accessibility and Equity of 10-County Atlanta Region using General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Data

2017-05 , Debnath, Anindya Kishore

From a conceptual understanding, though equity and accessibility are two fundamentally different issues but at the core, they possess an intricate relationship with each other when it comes down to the question of public transit (Talen and Anselin, 1998). Public transportation systems are usually aimed at serving two distinct groups of users ﾖ people who neither can afford a car nor have access to safe and convenient non-motorized alternatives, and people who independently choose not to drive but use public transit (Karner and Golub, 2015). Accessibility, often a debatable concern due to its widely differing reception, but continues to be at the center of contemporary transportation planning efforts. When it comes down to the provision of public transit service, it becomes even more crucial from equity concern as well. Transportation equity can be thought of as an effort to ensure that the service caters to the users irrespective of their spatial or socioeconomic background (Blanchard and et. al., 2017). Thus, it becomes more important for the captive riders who have no access to private automobile and thus no way either to travel by public transport or transit system (Langford, Fry and Higgs, 2012; Mavoa, Witten, Pearce and Day, 2009). However, due to its complexity and varying scales of recognition by various Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and regional transportation authorities, FTA funded transportation improvement projects are being evaluated on widely varying accessibility matrices. This paper is intended to assess public transit equity by applying a spatially and temporally sound and resolved accessibility indicator suggested by Karner (2016) and demonstrate its utility with reference to 10-county Atlanta region.

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City of Brookhaven Implementation Plan for Linking Buford Highway Redevelopment with the Peachtree Creek Greenway

2017-12 , Cornell, Gary , Tobey, Michael , Carmenate, Sigal , Dodson, Christy , Douglass, Sara , Epstein, Dara , Erwin, Alexandra , French, Megan

This project reflects the extended work of a Georgia Institute for Technology studio class from the School of City and Regional Planning. With the guidance of Gary Cornell, FAICP, and in direct communication with the City of Brookhaven, the team of twelve students identified gaps, issues, and opportunities for improving the private and public realms along the convergence of Buford Highway and North Fork Peachtree Creek Greenway. Although many plans have been written that include this area, no official small area plan has been written for the character area that addresses the specific issues faced in this corridor. The study area was decided on based on the character area identified in the City of Brookhaven Comprehensive Plan. The study area is portrayed in the maps shown here. It contains all property along Buford Highway in the City of Brookhaven lying between the city limits of Atlanta beginning at Shady Brook Road, and the city limits of Chamblee beginning east of Clairmont Road – a distance of about three miles. Additional property is included between Clairmont Road and I-85 to include the property along the banks of the North Fork of the Peachtree Creek. The purpose of this document is to provide a guiding vision for the planned transformation of Buford Highway corridor of Brookhaven. Through reading previous plans, speaking with city officials, stakeholders, and citizens, and analyzing available data, we have identified issues and opportunities for improving quality of life, placemaking, and environmental conditions. We have proposed recommendations for the city to consider that address priority issues based on current literature, suggestions from stakeholders, and examples of other cities across the United States.

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As Sea Levels Rise in the Southeast, Are Transportation Planners on Board with Climate Justice?

2017-05 , Barrow, Megan

This report contains a review of transportation-related equity planning practice in the southeastern United States, specifically in metro coastal areas expected to be transformed by sea-level rise. Long-range transportation plans and a sampling of other related documents are examined for an explanation of equity-oriented analytical processes; for mentions of climate change; and for any explicit links between the concepts. The intent is to better understand whether ﾖ more than 10 years after the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the worldwide attention it brought to the regionﾒs infrastructure and social structure alike ﾖ our evolving ideals of equity have begun to manifest in planning practice and potential investments.

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Measuring the Impact of Complete Streets Projects on Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety in Sacramento County, CA

2017-05 , Hanson, M. Alex

This paper aims to quantify the impact of complete streets projects on pedestrian and bicyclist safety. By examining crashes before and after complete streets projects, this study will lead to a better understanding of the cumulative effect of complete streets projects on pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Using data provided by the Sacramento Department of Transportation, a subset of projects completed between 2011 and 2014 were selected and analyzed to determine the number of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes in the 24 months before and after these complete streets projects were constructed and calculate rates of crashes for bicyclists and pedestrians.

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Gateway 85 Community Improvement District, Jimmy Carter Blvd, GA

2017-12 , Browne, Samantha , Diacetis, Bryan , Diwangkari, Andyan , El Joundi, Imane , Galloway, Allison , Glass, Gordon , Ijaz, Mishele , Johnson, Erin , Meng, Chao , Sawyer, Sarina , Kumar, Jeevan Sanjay Senthil , Thayer, Chris

This studio set out to develop a comprehensive understanding of the diverse, rich, and vibrant Gateway 85 Gwinnett Community Improvement District. From that, our purpose was to create a placemaking framework to spotlight the special character of the Jimmy Carter Boulevard Corridor and its neighborhoods. Thus, our mission was to search out unifying elements for the corridor as a whole, as well as reflect and enhance the quality of the diverse places along the way. This study considers the elements necessary for a comprehensive approach. In our search for placemaking strategies, we considered five core content areas of identity and culture, transportation, economic development, education, and housing, so that we could make well-rounded recommendations for steps towards a better Jimmy Carter Boulevard.

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People-Centered Planning for Smart Cities: Exploring the Use of Smart Cities Technologies in Efforts to Engage the Public

2017-05 , French, Emma

City planners will doubtless play a significant role in the design and implementation of smart city projects. In a 2015 report on Smart Cities and Sustainability the American Planning Association (APA) purported that smart city technologies (SCTs) will aid planners by creating more avenues for community participation in policy and planning processes (APA 2015). In reality, it is likely that these smart city technologies (SCTs) will disproportionately benefit communities that already have the resources and skills to engage in planning and policy-making processes. This study challenges the claim that smart cities will enable greater public participation by investigating the use of SCTs in efforts to engage the public in three planning efforts conducted in the Proctor Creek Watershed in West Atlanta. The findings show that use of SCTs is uneven among different stakeholder types and that perceptions about the impact of these technologies on enabling the public to engage in planning processes do not necessarily correspond with use. While use of SCTs was found to be uneven, community residents who participated in planning efforts reported that the use of certain technologies increased their understanding of the issues and their trust in the professional planners. These community participants expressed a strong desire to understand the data and technology being used in the planning process so that they could use those tools to advocate for their own community needs. As investment in smart cities grows, professional planners need to advocate for equitable development and deployment of new services and technologies to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not further disenfranchised by this new wave of automation. City and regional planners need to remain mindful of the context in which, and the audience for whom, they are planning. Further research is needed to better understand the how to plan for and develop smart cities that improve quality of life for everyone.

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2017 Urban Design Studio (Urawa Misono)

2017-05 , Binder, Robert , Garnett, Dontrey , Yang, Wenhui , Zeng, Tianran , French, Emma , Moreno, Marcela , Ray, Ellen , Veriah, Revathi Roopini , Brasgalla, Karina , Koo, Bonwoo , Lancaster, Zachary , Pang, Gabriel Jian , Yang, Perry Pei-Ju

Urawa Misono is a sub-center of Saitama City, the most populous city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. While Saitama City boasts a population of 1.26 million, Urawa Misono has remained largely rural. Only 45 minutes from Tokyo by rail, it is the final stop on the Saitama Rapid Railway Line. Every two weeks, thousands of soccer fans swarm the station and walk or drive to the Saitama Stadium, constructed in 2002 to host the FIFA World Cup. Saitama Stadium is an important site for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, prompting local and regional officials to consider how they will accommodate the massive influx of event spectators and maximize the impact of this influx for broader development goals. Even without the Olympics, Urawa Misono’s current population is projected to triple in size to over 32,000 by 2030. The challenge of planning in an international context was further compounded by the “smart city” directive. The term “smart city” has become common parlance in urban planning in recent years. While there is no universally agreed upon definition, descriptions of smart cities typically refer to integrated and inter-operable networks of digital infrastructure and information and communication technologies (ICT) that collect and share data and improve the quality of urban life (Allwinkle and Cruickshank 2011; Batty et al. 2012). However, unlike related concepts such as the digital city, the intelligent city and the ubiquitous city, the smart city is not limited to the diffusion of ICT, but also commonly includes people (Albino, Beradi, and Dangelico 2015). Due to the scope and complexity of the project, the Studio came up with the three guiding objectives outlined below through an internal charrette process: Sustainability, Adaptability, and Equity.

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