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Now showing 1 - 10 of 76
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Cultivating Connections: A Housing & Economic Development Implementation Strategy for the Mechanicsville Neighborhood of Atlanta

2018-12 , Barrett, Grace , Burge, James , Carter, Melody , Coyle, Tyler , Davison, Brianna , Furman, Seth , Sherman, Andrea , Smith, Andrew , Smith, Michael , Wolfe, Andreas

The future of Mechanicsville has been laid out in several previous plans, but they have resulted in little additional development for the neighborhood. Rather than creating another plan, the goal of this studio was to provide an implementation framework for community level development strategies. They are based on best practices observed in other communities, both in the City of Atlanta and around the United States as well as key input from Mechanicsville stakeholders. A key goal of the studio was to create a collection of practical ideas and recommendations which can be taken and applied by the Mechanicsville community, developers, and the City.

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Extending homeownership opportunities to prospective borrowers burdened by student loan debt

2018-07 , Agnew, Darian T.

Since 2006, Student loan debt has ranked second in national consumer debt, falling second only behind household debt and exceeding debt from auto loans and credit cards (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2018). While there are many negative and significant outcomes related to exorbitant student loan debt that are of concern to policy makers and other stakeholders, the focus of this applied research is on access to homeownership. Few policies and programs exist which directly address this seemingly causal link between student loan debt burden and homeownership. On the federal level, a recent initiative has been implemented by Fannie Mae, one of the major insurers of conventional loans and available in every state and most localities nationwide, to directly address this issue. The Student Loan Solutions Program seeks to address barriers to mortgage loan application approval for those with significant student loan debt burden. This applied research study seeks to explore the effectiveness of this policy, providing an assessment of its capacity to meet the needs of the target population. This study seeks to explore and describe the suitability of current policy and programming in increasing access to homeownership for prospective borrowers burdened by student loan debt. Specifically, this study will explore how well current policy and programming mitigate barriers faced by prospective borrowers burdened by student loan debt in obtaining debt financing toward the purchase of a primary residential property. The results highlight salient themes related to this broad area. From the literature review and data analysis, it follows that generational effects, racial equity, credit history, and debt-to-income ratio calculations stand out most.

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Classification of Informal Settlements Based on their Susceptibility to Climate Change: Case study of Ahmedabad, India

2018-05 , Veriah, Revathi Roopini

The aim of this study is to assess susceptibility of slum communities to four key climate stressors: 1) heat wave, 2) flooding and inundation, 3) water scarcity and 4) vector borne deceases. The study explores the context of each of these factors through a review of existing literature and assessed risk at the city and community level by measuring the relative vulnerability through a combination of remote sensing and GIS application. Typologies of settlements are identified on aerial imagery through their location and distinct urban footprint.

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An Academic Addendum for the Sandy Springs Wayfinding System: An Option Paper Report

2018-05 , Waidhas, Kelsey

As the City of Sandy Springs develops and grows into its own identity by developing its first downtown district, the need for efficient navigation and city branding became a priority for Assistant City Manager Jim Tolbert. I undertook the project of writing a city-wide wayfinding plan and was guided by a committee of city officials, local plans, and existing literature over the course of my year-long internship. The process included extensive research into current and future state transportation projects, principles of wayfinding systems, city official priorities and goals, and the relationship between branding and placemaking. The end product included a plan document and accompanying maps that laid out a wayfinding system that was uniquely Sandy Springs in order to encourage efficient routing for pedestrians and vehicles to and from commercial corridors.

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Powder Springs: Corridor and Connectivity Plan

2018-12 , Agnew, Agnew, Darian T. , Bleckley, Claire , Denison, Jack , Graszer, Grace , Greenwald, Jeremy , Hanus, Andrew , Healy, Clare , Ma, Jiayan , Scott, Eric , Sherman, Jonathan , Stephens, Nick

Powder Springs charged the studio to focus its attention on two of the major access corridors into the city, Powder Springs Road from the east and Austell-Powder Springs Road from the southeast. In contemplating and then analyzing that charge, the studio placed their work into a comprehensive framework. Students took into account the work that the city has prioritized in recent years, particularly its downtown focus and connectivity to the Silver Comet trail.

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Growth versus Development: The case of China Pakistan Economic Corridor

2018-05 , Ijaz, Mishele

There is a growing need to examine the relationship between ‘Growth’ and ‘Development’, and the issues that surface when both these terms, in the context of developing countries, are used synonymously. Growth is assessed by measuring market production through indicators such as the GDP and GNI, whereas Development is contingent on a larger set of variables including health, education, and quality of life. By drawing a clear distinction between the two, I intend to understand how planning is done when the aim is growth, versus how it is done when the aim is development.

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Resilient Black Neighborhoods in Urban Environments Through Effective Community Planning

2018-05 , Woods, Gloria

This report is broken into two areas: a discussion of the neglect and needs of Black neighborhoods;; and propose ways to improve and revitalize Black neighborhoods through an Atlanta case study, Bankhead. The term resilient, in Creating Resilient Black Neighborhoods in Urban Environments, relates to having the ability to spring back from difficult conditions. Many Black neighborhoods in America are not resilient due the historical racism and inequality. These neighborhoods have been disenfranchised and neglected by American society throughout history due to racial covenants like urban renewal and segregation. A general problem with this study is the information is not new, but many people choose to ignore it. My report breaks down the racism into planning areas where ideas and solutions can be created. And the end of the report will bring together the planning strategies and best practices for more resilient Black neighborhoods in a redevelopment case study for Bankhead. In this case study, I will discuss the weaknesses, strengthens, and opportunities within Bankhead and provide recommendations for future conservation and economic development.

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Information Theory as a Measure of Sociodemographic Change

2018-08 , Lancaster, Zachary

The current discourse around gentrification has been primarily focused on an economic understanding of gentrification. That is, that the gentrification can be primarily viewed through changes in housing prices in an area. That this increase is the sole and primary cause of displacement. While this economic explanation is an important component, it is not the only cause. The image, or perception of, a neighborhood changes as its socio-demographic and socio-economic circumstances change. As these circumstances change a process of replacement occurs and the social ecosystem begins to shift. This leads to the experiential phenomenon of gentrification, where the richness of social life declines as differing views and experiences are removed. This paper proposes a methodology for using metadata, specifically data concerning the entropy, or level of uncertainty or disorder, in demographic data to try to detect these changes and then applies this method to the City of Atlanta, in particular the areas around the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail.

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Atlanta's Urban Ecosystem Services: A Neighborhood Comparison Analysis

2018-05 , Morrison, Marc

The aim of this work is to perform a literature review exploring methods of quantifying ecosystem services and then apply a methodology to identify and map regulating ecosystem service provision in the City of Atlanta. Specifically, this will focus on services related to surface runoff mitigation and air purification. The main research question to be answered: Which neighborhoods in my study area are the most productive in terms of regulating ecosystem service provision? How can local decision frameworks regarding land use and development leverage these areas in coming decades?

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The Great Retail Metamorphosis: How Americans Shop is How Americans Live (Metro Atlanta Case Study)

2018-05 , Sepkowitz, Isabel

This paper will address factors to guide decision makers in anticipating future retail space demand and how this shift will affect the networks of cities and their associated suburbs. By focusing on Metro Atlanta and examining retail through a social, business, economic development lens, a literature review of retail location theory will be discussed. Then, a brief history of malls in the United States will and e-commerce behavior be overviewed. After that, the paper will then focus on Metro Atlanta to understand the current supply and market trends of malls and changing retail market, in terms of e-commerce businesses growth in Metro Atlanta. From there, the current supply and market and consumer data sources, specifically sales volume and employment data from 2012-2017, will be analyzed and applied to metro Atlanta to understand the health of regional malls and shopping centers. Lastly, the data limitations and implications for further research will be highlighted

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