
School of City & Regional Planning
School of City & Regional Planning
The School of City and Regional Planning is dedicated to crafting communities that are sustainable, just, resilient, healthy, and inclusive through world-class education and cutting-edge research.
Board of Regents Approves Global Development Degree
The new Master of Science in Global Development at Georgia Tech is a one-year collaborative degree that combines courses in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, the School of City and Regional Planning, and the School of Economics.

Carbon Tracker Lets Georgians Monitor Emissions
“The purpose of the tracker is to bring technology to bear on climate solutions,” said William Drummond, an associate professor in the School of City & Regional Planning and the lead behind the tracker. “This is the first time there has been effort to downscale emissions to the local level in a dynamic way we can update every month.”

Georgia Tech Plans Tokyo Redesign Using Social Data
Students in the Tokyo Smart City studio, of the Eco Urban Lab, are changing the way we plan cities. Using machine learning techniques on data from smartphones, GPS, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, students develop proposals based on measured human experience.

Andris Appointed to National Geospatial Advisory Committee
Assistant Professor Clio Andris is one of nine people appointed to the Department of the Interior's new National Geospatial Advisory Committee. As a committee member, Andris will make recommendations for national geospatial policy and help develop the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.
GIS Study Reveals: Poorly-built Cities Strain Romance
Clio Andris and her team use maps to study how relationships are situated in cities: whether people live near each other, whether it is easy for them to see each other, and what kinds of activities and amenities they can easily access.
She recently realized city layouts (where the buildings are, how public transportation works, even where sidewalks are placed) affect romantic couples.

Meet the Inaugural EJID Fellowship Recipients
In 2020 the School of City & Regional Planning reissued a statement committing to justice and inclusive communities. Attached to the statement was an action plan setting out a list of goals and clearly defined plans to pursue the advancement of social and racial justice. The Equity, Justice, and Inclusive Design Fellowship campaign launched in November 2020 to meet one of these goals.
MCRP students Ethan Knight-Scott and Madison Davis were the inaugural recipients. They reflect on the impact of the fellowship and their future goals in a conversation with the School.

Paige Clayton Publishes Two New Papers
Assistant Professor Paige Clayton recently published two new papers.
One article, "Academic Teams and Commercialization in the Life Sciences," was published in the journal Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics. Her collaborative research considers how academics form teams to start new companies and the implications of various configurations on firm behavior with regards to patenting, survival and firm growth.
Her other article, "Dissecting diffusion: Tracing the plurality of factors that shape knowledge diffusion," was published in the journal Research Policy. It explores how organizational origin, licensing strategy, complementary assets, industry stage, and early social networks play a role in shaping the knowledge diffusion of two comparable, foundational biotechnology inventions – recombinant DNA (rDNA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Faculty and Students Present at 2021 ACSP Conference
Seven of our PhD students and seven of our faculty have presentations at the 2021 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference.
A special congratulations to Florina Dutt and Subhro Guhathakurta for winning the ACSP Annual Conference Best Poster Award for the second year in a row! Their winning poster was titled: "Does Access to Diverse Urban Facilities Reduce Stress Amongst Urbanites? An Assessment Mining Social Media Microblogs and Points of Interest."
Latest News
Design Faculty on Two NSF Civic Innovation Challenge Awards
Two of the 17 NSF Civic Innovation Challenge Awards (narrowed down from 52), include College of Design faculty. Their interdisciplinary work provides community-based solutions to mobility issues and disaster resilience.
Subhro Guhathakurta and Kari Watkins are on the Piloting On-Demand Multimodal Transit in Atlanta project. This project aims to synchronize on-demand shuttle services with Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) services and real-time feeds, and deploy these services in targeted transit deserts. Nisha Botchwey is on the Visualizing Resilience: BIPOC Youth Advocacy Through Mapmaking project. This project will deliver a curriculum to support youth advocacy for infrastructure projects in their communities.

Gulsah Akar Appointed City and Regional Planning Chair
The College of Design is proud to announce Gulsah Akar’s appointment as chair of the School of City and Regional Planning, effective July 1, 2021.
“Dr. Akar has established herself as a thought leader in urban transportation planning,” said Steven P. French, the dean and John Portman Chair of the College of Design. “She is the editor of the Journal of Planning Literature, one of the top three urban planning journals in the United States. She serves on two Transportation Research Board committees and is a manuscript reviewer for all the major transportation journals.”
Join Our Prospective Student Email List
Interested in learning more about the School of City & Regional Planning? Want to hear about our upcoming information sessions? Do you need a reminder to start on your application as deadlines approach? Sign up here to join our mailing list for interested students!
Our Commitment to Justice and Inclusive Communities
The faculty, staff, and students in Georgia Tech’s School of City and Regional Planning (SCaRP) have been deeply shocked and saddened by the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and more recently Rayshard Brooks here in Atlanta. These incidents, along with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Ga. and other violence inflicted on the Black community across the country, acutely highlights the injustices that Black citizens and people of color continue to face in this country and elsewhere. The worldwide protests against racial injustice that ensued remind us of the systemic racism that undergirds the foundation of American society and its insidious impacts, especially on cities.
Equity, justice, and inclusive communities are principles that form the core of the planning discipline. These principles are the fundamental lens through which we view planning issues and engage in planning practice. We acknowledge that planning has not done enough to dismantle the inequities in our communities and cities. Urban planning has played a key role in institutions that promote racial inequality, including urban renewal, exclusionary zoning, and in the current moment, public investment which results in gentrification and displacement rather than promoting values of inclusion and justice. As planners, our work is deeply entwined with institutions that can either promote or dismantle racial inequality. We choose the latter. We embrace the equity and justice serving principles at the core of the planning discipline. We will actualize them to promote just, anti-racist societies and to undo the values of white supremacy at the root of racism.
Equity, Justice & Inclusive Design Fellowship
We believe it is essential that the next generation of planning leaders include those who come from communities of color. Their often-unheard voices must be amplified for us to create just, equitable, and inclusive communities for all.
In order to do so, we are creating two Equity, Justice & Inclusive Design Fellowships for aspiring graduate students who are Black, indigenous, or of color who need financial assistance to attend Georgia Tech. We intend to begin awarding these $2,000 fellowships in fall 2021, but we need your help to make this happen.
Get to Know Us
Questions?
Contact Us