Master's Projects

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Master's Projects

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

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Towards a Safer Atlanta: Identifying High-Priority Intersections for Leading Pedestrian Intervals

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12) Mase, Heather

This study addresses the critical issue of pedestrian safety and the need to prioritize safety interventions in the City of Atlanta. It specifically focuses on leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs), which adjust signal timing to give pedestrians a head start when crossing the street at intersections. While traditional safety analyses rely primarily on historical collision data, this analysis takes a systemic and proactive approach to safety by incorporating risk factors such as roadway characteristics, the surrounding built environment, and socioeconomic characteristics of nearby residents. The primary objective of this research is to determine where LPIs should be implemented in the City of Atlanta by ranking and identifying high-risk intersections. The methods comprise of six major steps: (1) factor selection; (2) data collection; (3) database construction; (4) calculation of factor weights, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP); (5) factor normalization and aggregation, involving scaled scores and weighting; and (6) determination of the final signalized intersection ranking for LPI implementation, based on a rank-order prioritization process. Results from this analysis reveal that many of the highest risk intersections are primarily concentrated around Downtown Atlanta and West Atlanta. The proposed data-driven framework provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to guide decision-makers and safety advocates in directing resources and support to intersections with the greatest need for pedestrian safety intervention. Overall, this research contributes to the advancement of safety, sustainability, and equity in the City of Atlanta.
America’s Gayborhoods: A Study in the Cultural Preservation of LGBTQ+ Communities

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12) Brennan, Laurence

In recent years, Atlanta, GA has seen a boon in development, catapulting housing demand and prices, particularly in its densest and most desirable neighborhoods. The Midtown neighborhood’s Garden District, commonly referred to as the ‘Gayborhood’ is one such place where long-time residents are being pushed out. The exodus of queer trailblazers combined with an influx of new, heteronormative populations in dense new high rises, dilutes the proportion of LGBTQ+ anchor residents who patronized the shops and cafes that served as the backbone of this community. This exploratory effort reviews literature and research from other studies and governmental entities and conducts a comparative analyses of planning interventions that other U.S. cities have used as tools toward cultural preservation. This analysis, identifies policies, ordinances, or other successful practices of stewarding the heritage of identity-based places, to prevent further erasure of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ enclaves.
Planning for a Climate Driven Implementation of Mobility Hubs on Georgia Tech’s Campus

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12) Murali, Malavika

Mobility hubs are an efficient and effective transportation solution that promotes connectivity and provides last-mile modal options for commuters and residents through integrating multi-modal transportation infrastructure in one convenient transitional space. In addition to encouraging place-making efforts and transforming cities with innovative technologies, mobility hubs are foundationally a strategy for addressing the climate change crisis, which is substantially driven by transportation related carbon and carbon-equivalent emissions. Therefore, a focus on a climate driven implementation of mobility hubs is pertinent to accomplishing the goal of reducing carbon emissions and creating resilient transportation infrastructure. This paper provides a case study analysis of best practice strategies for implementing mobility hubs from three institutions across the United States, which informs a review of Georgia Tech's plans for improving mobility on campus as outlined by the 2023 Comprehensive Campus Plan (CCP). This analysis is used to determine what elements are critical to creating resilient, sustainable, and accessible mobility hubs and to propose a climate driven approach to implementing the mobility plans of the institution. Through this analysis, 14 locations are identified for potential mobility hubs throughout campus that incorporate 11 sustainability and accessibility elements which are detailed in the paper.
Exploring Urban Agroforestry as Multifunctional Green Infrastructure in Atlanta, Georgia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05)

Flooding, increasingly less isolated to riverine or coastal cities, has become an increasingly daunting challenge for urban areas in recent years. Additionally, residents in economically distressed areas face food insecurity because of a lack of access to fresh, nutritious produce or similar groceries. While superficially unrelated, both flooding and food insecurity pose critical threats to the stability and wellbeing of urban communities. For city planners and policy makers alike, these “wicked problems” require an equally wicked, novel solution in the form of urban agroforestry (UAF). UAF has recently emerged as a unique tool for tackling these urban problems while serving as a bridge between food systems and hazard mitigation planning. Integrating “working trees” into existing green infrastructure or developing new sites with forms of edible green infrastructure can become a crucial step in creating multifunctional landscapes in urban environments. This paper explores agroforestry as a novel, multifunctional green infrastructure solution in urban environments by determining the stormwater absorption, filtering, and interception capacities of different agroforestry practices, assessing their food production potential, and then identifying suitable sites for pilot projects through Atlanta, Georgia.
Nihonbashi Retail Space and Shopping Activity Research: Daily and Pandemic

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05) Xie, Yan

This article explores the built environment and usage patterns of three major retail spaces in the Nihonbashi area, Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Japan. By analyzing GPS based foot traffic and venue data, the study investigates changes in people's consuming activity and preferences for department stores, convenience stores, and supermarkets in a day, a week, and draw two different retail landscape in common and pandemic periods. The results of this study provide insights into the transformation of retail spaces in response to changes in consumer behavior and preferences in the pandemic era and offer practical guidance for urban planners and designers seeking to create resilient and adaptable commercial spaces.
Rural Flood Resilience & Adaptation: A Study of Rural Appalachia and Williamson, West Virginia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04) Mitchem, Elizabeth

Every state in the nation is experiencing increased flooding, as a particular result of increased extreme precipitation events. Planning emphasis in this realm has largely been focused on coastal regions, but inland flooding is a growing issue of climate change nationally and globally; “Inland flooding poses a massive threat to millions of homes across the county, but this risk sometimes flies under the radar when media stories focus on large coastal storms and flooding events'' (National Flood Services n.d.). There is a growing urgency to understand flooding for communities outside of these coastal cities, and beyond that, outside of ‘cities’ themselves; inland rural spaces are not immune from flooding. Resiliency planning, designed for small, more rural communities, will be a necessary tool to prepare, mitigate, and adapt to climate change impacts and severe flooding for small town America. Holistic inland flood planning — that connects adaptation and mitigation to concepts of resilience — will allow states to allocate their resources and plan more effectively and efficiently to curb inland flooding. Planning should include pragmatic strategies to positively influence policy and programs across stakeholders at every level: from resident to state office. This paper is an effort to situate this type of planning in rural Appalachia, and to design a framework and recommendations that significantly support often vulnerable, low-capacity, rural Appalachian communities.
The Atlanta University Center as a Stronger Anchor Institution for the Westside Community

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04) Waheed, Jullanar

he Atlanta University Center (AUC) encompasses four legendary Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that have undeniably changed the landscape of Atlanta and the United States. This paper looks at the impact these HBCUs have had on the surrounding community as anchor institutions. Research was utilized from nationally recognized leading anchor institutions as well as interviews from local residents and other community stakeholders to gather an understanding of the current relationship between the AUC and the community. While acknowledging the relevance and importance of these HBCUs and the historically black communities that surround them, this paper analyzing trends from stakeholder interviews and highlighting best practices from leading anchor institutions to provide recommendations to the AUC for creating a stronger symbiotic relationship with the community.
Public Acceptance of Transportation Pricing: A Case Study for Atlanta, Georgia

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04) Noe, John

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) forecasts continued dramatic population and employment growth of the Atlanta region in the decades to come. To address the traffic congestion that population growth, urban sprawl, inadequate transit funding, and automobile-centric infrastructure have encouraged, decision-makers in Atlanta, led by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), have typically chosen to expand roadway capacity. Despite these efforts, the city’s reputation for traffic has not improved, belying the notion that simply increasing transportation supply can effectively curtail congestion. The fiscal and environmental challenges of the 1970s forced federal authorities to consider an alternative strategy: managing travel demand by reducing the number of trips made by single-occupant vehicles (SOVs). A market-oriented approach proposes internalizing the externalities associated with automobile travel by more accurately pricing it. Such pricing mechanisms encourage individual travelers to modify their behaviors, whether by reevaluating when or whether to travel at all, or by shifting their trips to another mode such as transit, thereby increasing transportation system efficiency. As of 2023, a mere handful of cities worldwide have adopted congestion pricing, which charges motorists entering high-traffic downtown areas. Similar proposals in other cities were put to a public referendum and rejected by voters. As such, this paper seeks to determine the most salient criteria impacting public acceptability of road pricing schemes. It synthesizes those factors and evaluates the degree to which they are present in Atlanta using two types of sources: publicly available documents such as transportation-focused plans and reports, and interviews with transportation planning experts and regional authorities.
Solid Waste Management System in Karachi: Understanding the Problem and Identifying Opportunities

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04) Batool, Abiha

This paper investigates the various political, social, physical, and economic factors associated with solid waste in Karachi, which culminate in a severely dysfunctional waste management system in the city. By analyzing the existing solid waste management system practices and the involved stakeholders, this paper seeks to critically evaluate the policies and regulations that have contributed to the current state of the system. Drawing from these findings, the paper proposes a set of policy recommendations that could potentially enhance the waste management landscape in Karachi, including but not limited to, the systematic collection of waste-related data, evaluation of the effectiveness of the current system, the formalization of scavenging, establishment of an accountability framework for all stakeholders, and the integration of the waste from informal settlements into the broader waste management ecosystem.
1540 Northside Drive: Resilient, Redeveloped, Reimagined

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-04) Master, Michaela

The City of Atlanta’s City Planning Department has identified city-owned parcels that are currently underutilized, and could instead provide a source of revenue for the cash-strapped city. The department is also working to address the affordable housing crisis that is plaguing the city. One such parcel is 1540 Northside Drive (hereafter: “1450 Northside”). This property is currently operated by the Department of Public Works (DPW), with the sanitation and fleet maintenance departments working on roughly 8.5 acres of low-intensity land. The City of Atlanta Planning Department is working to figure out the highest and best use of the property while also prioritizing its own goals for affordable housing and alignment with the city’s 2021 Comprehensive Plan and Atlanta City Design. Two essential questions arise: first, what factors should be considered in such a property’s redevelopment? The City of Atlanta has outlined a plethora of goals related to city development, from multi-modal transportation expansion to tree canopy growth to affordable housing development. The large, publicly owned property presents an exciting opportunity to be ambitious and creative in what this property could achieve. The second question, then, is to consider what exactly the highest and best use of 1540 Northside Drive is. There are an infinite number of lenses through which to view redevelopment at 1540 Northside Drive – what best opportunities may exist for transit-oriented development, for example, or what iconic urban design and placemaking might be employed. This paper will focus on the redevelopment opportunity through a lens of environmental resilience and justice, while also employing general best practices of community planning to create a vision for the future of 1540 Northside Drive.