Master's Projects

Series

Master's Projects

Permanent Link

https://hdl.handle.net/1853/71003

Series Type

Publication Series

Full item page

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 309

A Flood Resilience Policy Analysis: New York City

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Sherman, Jonathan

The urgency of flood resilience in coastal regions has amplified over the past decade as several high cost storms have hit significant metropolitan regions. New data has indicated that major hydrological events have doubled since 2004 and quadrupled since 1984 (EASAC 2018). The Mid-Atlantic United States is particularly vulnerable to coastal flooding as the statistics approximate above average sea level rise for the region (EPA, 16). Sea levels are expected to rise globally between eight inches and six and a half feet by the end of the century (NYC Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency 2013). The Mid-Atlantic region SLR rates are three to four times the global average, indicating a much faster rate of increase than other parts of the globe. This region encompasses several densely populated areas including New York City. Strategies to mitigate climate change impacts or adapt to changing environmental conditions have become frontline topics in planning and urban design.
Church-Based Transportation: A New Shared Mobility Service That Converts Church Parking Lots into Transportation Hubs

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Tyger, Curtis

The Atlanta metro region leads national polls and statistics that reveal the inadequacy of available transportation services. For example, Atlanta has the 2nd lowest rate of economic mobility, 4th highest rate of suburbanization of poverty, and is the 4th most traffic-congested city in the United States. Each ranked criterion can be credited to the region’s public transportation system and its inability to keep pace with the metro area’s sprawling land use pattern. Economic mobility or “an individual, family, or group’s ability to improve their economic status” is often measured by access to efficient and reliable transportation services (Forward Through Ferguson, 2015). Suburbanization of poverty, or the increase in poverty rates in suburbia, has close ties to how metropolitan governments have neglected to ensure adequate regional transit services. As regional governments allocate millions of public dollars to well-needed transportation projects, their projected completion dates are often in the distant future, thus forcing residents to wait years for a solution. However, this paper will analyze how a ubiquitous community asset can offer the space to implement immediate mobility services to underserved communities in the Atlanta metro area.
Middle Ground: Market Demand and the Housing Supply Mismatch for Middle Housing in the United States

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Healy, Clare

The purpose of this report is to analyze the market case in other words, the abundance of demand and lack of supply for middle scale, middle density housing. This category of housing used to be common in our cities but today is better known as the “missing middle,” due to demolition of the existing stock and a lack of new construction. The concept of missing middle housing has gained traction among urban planning circles in recent years, and even in the popular press. As the concept generates more buzz, it is important to step back and substantiate the degree to which middle housing is a bonafide market opportunity that satisfies unmet housing demand, rather than a fad. This established, stakeholders in the real estate development process can move forward to the more difficult task of addressing the many known regulatory and financial challenges associated with actually building middle housing today. This report surveys these challenges briefly but is more focused on emphasizing the market opportunity at stake more than laying out regulatory solutions, which is already well addressed in the literature. This report operates on the belief that what is needed today is not so much solutions as motivation to actually work toward those solutions.
Federal Opportunity Zones: The newest gentrification tool?

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Carter, Melody

The Federal Opportunity Zones tax incentive has taken over the conversation amongst professionals in the economic and community development world for the past year. The legislation sparked from a think tank exploring ideas about how to tap into a large amount of private capital – unrealized capital gains. With $6.1 trillion of unrealized U.S. capital gains, thought leaders imagined a mechanism to drive this source of private dollars into communities around the country that are most disinvested. Attempting to bridge the economic prosperity gap that is so prevalent in the U.S., the Federal Opportunity Zones were enacted.
Envisioning a Complete Streets Prioritization Scheme for Georgia’s Small and Medium-Sized Cities

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Smith, Andrew

This paper explores the policy implications of implementing a prioritization methodology exclusively for Complete Streets projects in Georgia urbanized areas (UZAs) with a population range of 50,000 to 200,000 people, or those UZAs that are not defined as transportation management areas (TMAs) by the United States Census Bureau. It is partly based on past work the author completed with the Valdosta-Lowndes Metropolitan Planning Organization and Southern Georgia Regional Commission from January to July 2017 in the development of a report titled Valdosta and Lowndes County Complete Streets Suitability. The effectiveness and criticisms of this report are examined in the paper. Potential improvements to the methodology are suggested should this either be implemented in Valdosta again or in another Georgia metropolitan planning organization (MPO). This paper is written with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and the state’s 16 MPOs as the intended audience. The ultimate goal is to illustrate why there is a need for a Complete Streets scoring methodology for road segments in small and medium-sized cities and UZAs in Georgia and discuss how MPOs can develop and implement such a methodology for their planning areas.
Coastal Wetlands and Sea-Level Rise: A Case for Climate Adaptation Zones in Coastal Georgia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Everhart, Justina

There exists within the scientific community overwhelming consensus that global sea level rise and temperature fluctuations are facilitating coastal change. Depending on local conditions, these potentially devastating byproducts of climate change introduce a diverse set of challenges, particularly to coastal wetlands and those who inhabit coastal cities. Coastal Georgia, for example, is already experiencing the increasing costs associated with maintenance and reconstruction of property and critical infrastructure that has been damaged by sea level rise (SLR) and more frequent, intense storm events; property damages alone have undergone a 300 percent increase in annual losses since 1940, reaching an approximate $1.5 billion each year from 1960 to 1980 (Horin et al. 2008, 13). Through this work, the potential vulnerability of Georgia’s coastal wetlands to climate change is explored via identification of locations where inland wetland migration might be interrupted, which will facilitate identification of potential wetland migration corridors. From this analysis, the following questions are posed: 1. What existing areas can potentially serve as future wetland sites, and how much area is available for inland migration? 2. How connected are current and future migration corridors to both existing tidal wetlands and to existing conservation areas and/or public lands? 3. How can the designation of climate adaptation zones facilitate wetland migration?
Puerto Rico Disaster Mitigation and Recovery Studio

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Baggett, Anna ; Borsch, Adam ; Brice, Paul-Emile ; Cooper, Carson ; DeMerritt, Paul ; Friedman, Mirit ; Gao, Meng ; Geronimo, Laura ; Johnson, Jennifer ; Johnson, Nicholas ; Morales, Roberto ; Schlom, Ryan ; Tucker, William

This student-driven studio was a response to the widespread devastation left by two powerful hurricanes, Hurricane María and Hurricane Irma, that impacted Puerto Rico in 2017. Driven by their concern for Puerto Rico’s population, students with close ties to the island proposed a joint studio with the University of Puerto Rico’s Graduate School of Planning (EGP). Faculty at SCaRP and EGP ran parallel courses and an exchange program, which was awarded support from the APA Foundation Disaster Grant. Overall, the studio had two main objectives: • To develop a transferable model to channel planning assistance to other vulnerable communities – one which captures local and institutional resources and talent. • To enhance the capacity of next-generation planners to manage climate change issues and devise transferable tools and analytics that strengthen the planning capability of local communities and organizations.
Bike Infrastructure Evaluation of Midtown Atlanta, A GIS and Statistics Based Study

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Gao, Meng

Metro Atlanta has experienced a surge in population growth in the past few decades. Midtown is one of the most attractive neighborhoods to companies, businesses, and residents, new and old. From daily observations to Census data, today Atlanta’s transportation network is still heavily dependent on cars for commute. The growing need for cars will lead to further traffic congestion, air pollution, and pressure to increase road infrastructure. Studies from many organizations and institutes have shown the great benefits of biking for individuals. Better Health in Victoria, Australia identified three major benefits of biking: protection from serious diseases; personal enjoyment of low-impact exercise; and the ease of fitting it into trips to shops, school, and work (Betterhealth Channel, 2018). Another huge benefit of encouraging non-motorized transportation modes is the reduction of carbon emissions, which will lead to a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly city. Therefore, encouraging biking in Atlanta is very important.
Planning for Blue and Green: A Case for Green Infrastructure

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Carpenter, Sophia

With the growing and ever present need to address the impacts of climate change, the burdens placed on cities’ stormwater management systems are exceeding the capacity. In recent years, green infrastructure has been one of many highly discussed strategies that may better address these conflicts, but it is not a new invention. Concepts of green infrastructure can be traced back to germ theory and Fredrick Olmstead’s parks to landscape urbanism and Design with Nature. Today, the idea of green infrastructure surpasses theory and naturalistic design. It is merged with policy, economic development, stormwater management, and street infrastructure to become a part of a multitude of cities landscapes around the globe. Prior to implementing green infrastructure, we need to understand what green infrastructure is; its capabilities, gaps and conflicts; potential impacts; and an understanding of the needed investments to make green infrastructure feasible and maintainable. Analyzing the planning process and the implementation strategies other cities have taken will result in a better understanding of how to implement infrastructure appropriately and better consider the circumstances of the urban landscape. With a knowledge of successes and failures in implemented green infrastructure, we can use that information to propose best management practices for the City of Atlanta that are considerate of the social, economic, and environmental factors of the city. It is our hope that as green infrastructure becomes more common that cities make more informed decisions that are embracive the existing fabric of the city and enhance it.
Closing Peachtree and Pine: Evaluating Homeless Strategies in Atlanta, Georgia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-05) Graszer, Grace

Homelessness is a significant issue facing the United States as a whole, but urban areas tend to face the brunt of the challenge. As one of the largest metro areas in the U.S., and the largest city in the State of Georgia, Atlanta has 35 percent of the state’s homeless population. In 2017, Atlanta’s homeless population was 3,572 on a given night. This equates to 75.6 homeless per 10,000 people in the general population, more than four times the national homelessness rate (“Georgia - National Alliance to End Homelessness,” 2017) (“State of Homelessness - National Alliance to End Homelessness,” n.d.). There is still much work to be done to address homelessness in Atlanta. However, homelessness is a lightning rod issue, eliciting concern and empathy from many citizens, but still garnering NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) responses when it comes time to site shelters and services meant to reduce homelessness. This applied research paper uses interviews and local data to illustrate the outcomes to individuals experiencing homelessness due to Peachtree and Pine’s closure and determine whether its closure is part of a successful strategy to reduce and eliminate homelessness in Atlanta.