Student giving presentation in Tokyo

MCRP Studios

MCRP Studios

City planning studios are unique in design-focused higher education: instead of taking a studio course each semester, planning students take one capstone studio as part of requirements for Georgia Tech’s Master of City and Regional Planning degree.

Each year the School offers four or five studios in varying locations both locally and abroad.

Studios receive instruction for 12 hours a week, but students spend far more time working together outside of instruction hours.

2024: Puerto Rico Studio

Studio group 3

Mary Jane McCain; Geyu Lyu; Diego Shipmon; Samantha Bolton; Ana Santos; Ornela Gjoni; Noemi Carrilo; Alison Hopkins; Dimitri Castiblanco; Jack Keller; Kylie Regina Hossom; Violeta Escandon; Correa Michael; Luke Nicholson. Under the guidance of Alberto Fuentes, Professor.

In 2024, the Puerto Rico Studio incorporated two major innovations: (1) it created teams of not only graduate, but also undergraduate students; and (2) it pursued two parallel projects with different clients. The first, which focused on post-disaster damage, as well as public and private-sector reconstruction initiatives, continued the 2023 collaboration with the Center for the New Economy (CNE). The second, which addressed energy resilience in the San Juan neighborhood of Condado, supported the efforts of community leader Amaury Rivera.

2023: Tokyo Smart City Studio at Nihonbashi

Beattie, Aaron; Brock, Cooper; Farooq, Umar; Khorashahi, Yasamin; Mase, Heather; Zhao, Yuxiang; Xie, Yan (Lucy); Rawlins, Miles
Sivakumar, Siddharth; Aceto, Steven; Knight-Scott, Ethan; Dean, Emily; Yan, Peirui; Chen, Yining (Annie); Shetty, Jayita; Lin, Yizhou; Yang, Perry Pei-Ju; Lejeune, Dillon. Under the guidance of Perry Yang, Professor.

The Tokyo Smart City Studio explores a method of data-driven urban design, and how digital urban technologies enable architects and planners to comprehend cities, urban spaces and architecture from data visualization, mapping, modeling, performance evaluation to architecture and urban form making. The project aims to design a smart urban district that is carbon neutral, climate resilient and post-covid-19 conscious.

2023: Climate Vulnerability Assessment Studio

Claire Patrick; Matthew Hawkins; Tina Dickenson; Cloe Helms; Tapeka Pringle; Yohana Gebregziabiher; David Moss; Malavika Murali. Under the guidance of Dr. Jairo Garcia, Part-Time Lecturer.

Students enrolled in the Fall 2023 MCRP Studio developed a climate vulnerability assessment for Georgia Tech. This assessment, based on previous SCaRP work on climate vulnerabilities for cities and counties in Georgia, required a comprehensive analysis beyond climate impacts and included in-depth analysis of GT operations as well as city operations, and an analysis of comprehensive plans for both, the institution and the City of Atlanta.
Working with many offices and organizations inside and outside of GT including Infrastructure and Sustainability; Buildings; Utilities; Planning; Emergency Management; EPD (Georgia Environmental Division); FEMA, and many others, students compiled their findings and recommendations in an interactive GIS Map, and in a matrix categorizing each campus vulnerability across different sectors. Students also prepared an academic paper, a poster, and a presentation. Climate vulnerabilities are a fundamental part of climate resilience and adaptation plans, and they are becoming an essential component of urban and institutional comprehensive plans.

2023: Puerto Rico Studio

Abiha Batool; Adriana Colón Adorno; Neha Devdikar; Rehmah Firoz; Nadya Pramaputri; Samrawit Yohanis. Under the guidance of Professor Alberto Fuentes and Teaching Assistant Joshua Ayers.

The 2023 Studio engaged in a collaborative project with the Center for the New Economy (CNE), a San Juan-based think tank. Through this collaboration, the Studio engaged in a detailed examination of Puerto Rico’s construction permitting process. The Studio also cleaned and manipulated a dataset made publicly available by Puerto Rico’s Permitting Office (OGPe), and extracted descriptive statistics to better ascertain the patterns of private construction permitting in Puerto Rico.

2022: Tokyo Smart City Studio at Nihonbashi

Arsam, Muhammad; Buchanan, Regan; Chen, Lu; Conschafter, Stephen; Clowse, Maddy; Foxley, Sebastian; Franco-Pinilla, Rossana; Garcia, Mirna; Nicolson, Maggie; Manitius, Natalie; Snedaker, Tasha; Wineski, Olivia. Under the guidance of Perry Yang, Professor.

The studio's mission is to enhance the Nihonbashi neighborhood through carbon neutrality, climate resiliency, and post-Covid-19 consciousness. The studio focused on: 1. Celebrating the progress and history of the neighborhood 2. Engaging stakeholders across social, cultural, and geographic distances 3. Ensuring that future development supports climate resiliency and livable- and people-focused communities 4. Adding open spaces that support synergy between blue and green systems 5. Designing streetscapes and transit that makes movement enjoyable and accessible 6. Helping the neighborhood become more resilient to shocks such as Covid-19 or natural disasters 7. Anticipating trends and needs of population changes with land use 8. Harnessing smart technologies to enhance quality of life and economic opportunity, as well as our designs and processes 9. Catalyzing Tokyo's pursuit of carbon neutrality by using Nihonbashi as an example

2022: Faith Based Affordable Housing

Kortney Cena; Colin Delargy; Miriam Dominguez; Clifton McFarlane; Ansley Murphy; Julie Waheed. Under the guidance of Aaron Fortner, Part-Time Lecturer.

This studio investigates affordable housing strategies that do not eliminate single-family zoning. These include coming up with the tools and resources to coordinate the use of publicly and non-profit-owned land; maximize the conservation of existing stock, and concentrate densification in already dense areas like transit corridors and existing dense areas. Specifically, the studio explores the potential for faith-based property owners to step up, using their land holdings as a way of underwriting the land cost element of an affordability-serving pro forma.

"The work that the Georgia Tech Urban Design studio is doing for our faith-based partners is critical in identifying a way forward towards providing affordable housing solutions in response to this local and national affordability crisis," Fortner said. "The studio’s work is helping not only our locational house of faith partners, but also will be used a resource by the City of Atlanta, and hopefully the region, for enabling other houses of faith entities to pursue housing affordability.”

2022: Home Park Neighborhood Strategic Planning

Joel Hudson; Seung Jae Lieu; Michaela Master; Thomas Neaves; John Noe; Miles Rawlins; Samrawit Yohanis; Yuxiang Zhao. Under the guidance of Aaron Fortner, Part-Time Lecturer.

This studio examined updates to the Home Park master plan, exploring the impact on neighborhood futures and recommending short-term actions that signal reassertion or reimagining of neighborhood values. Students in the studio work in group settings and apply their knowledge across all specializations, emphasizing syntheses among them. 

“It is a true privilege to be asked by the neighborhood adjacent to the Georgia Tech campus to bring our urban design and planning studio resources to their community," Fortner said. "This studio has proven to be a tremendous resource for this historic neighborhood and has resulted in the development of a series of detailed planning concepts that community leaders are excited to implement."

2022: Habersham County Growth Management, Conservation

Lauren Beduhn; Madison Davis; Nathan Davis; Mira Kaufman; Roxanne Raven; Sierra Scott. Under the guidance of Aaron Fortner, Part-Time Lecturer.

This studio worked with Habersham County residents, community leaders, government officials, and the Georgia Conservancy to consider how and where development and conservation can and should occur across the County. Valued qualities of Habersham County that draw new residents to the area--forests, mountains, and streams--are at risk without a concerted effort to include conservation alongside land-efficient development. 

“The Georgia Tech Urban Design studio partnership with the Georgia Conservancy continues this fruitful 25-plus year relationship of providing advanced planning to communities throughout the State of Georgia," Fortner said. "The studio’s work with the Habersham County leadership towards establishing the tools for rural preservation, small town growth, sustainable development practices, and regional connectivity has been enthusiastically received and is already moving forward towards next steps for implementation.”

2022: Puerto Rico Studio

Purva Singh, Pooja Gopi, Roxanne Raven, Cristina Velasquez, Safae Amahrir, and Paula Negrón-López. Under the supervision of Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor and Alberto Fuentes, Assistant Professor.

Based on a philosophy of community-based planning, the 2022 studio leveraged students’ planning skillset to bolster the organizational capacity of partner organization Impacto Juventud. A central assumption was that global studios can be mutually beneficial for students, who broaden their perspectives, and partners or clients, who increase access to resources. In the context of this studio, this was best accomplished by building the capacity of community organizations to support their outreach and activism. The studio’s sub-areas of focus included community asset mapping, renewable energy, and non-profit communications. 

2021: The Chattahoochee Brick Company Studio

A historic photo collage of black men and the Chattahoochee Brick Company.
Photo: From MCRP studio report

Abel, Hunter; Carnell, Phillip; Coutinho, Pedro; Hopkins, Alison; Nyman, Tanning; Oliverio, Gabrielle; Roth, Grace; White, Reginald; Xie, Ray. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins, Professor of Practice, and conducted for the Chattahoochee Brick Company Descendants Coalition.

This studio provided a vision plan for the development potential of the Chattahoochee Brick Company site and its opportunities for reparative justice. The Chattahoochee Brick Company was a poignant example of the brutal system of convict leasing. The company's product was key to the literal rebuilding of Atlanta, Georgia, after the Civil War. The use of prison labor is still a key part of the nation's economy. The studio aimed to pay tribute to the history of the Chattahoochee Brick Company site while addressing the concerns and needs of the current community and the desires of stakeholders in the wider surrounding area.   

2020: International Urban Design Studio, Shinagawa

Christopher L Barnum , Willie M Bolden, Ryan L Colburn, Natcha O-charoen, David J Pedrick, Zachary W Starbuck, Shuhui Zhen , Ashley S Baldwin, Violet F Bernard, Danielle L Blumenthal, Akhilesh V Dhurkunde, George P Doyle, Andrew Dunham, Bhaswini B Kokitkar, Eleni Kroi, Cynthia Peng, Danielle M Sisson, Hannah L Slep, Jun Wang, Alexandra D Watson, Sanjana Zahin. Under the supervision of Perry Yang, Associate Professor.

The Tokyo Smart City Studio in Spring 2020 investigated Shinagawa and its surroundings at the Tokyo Bay waterfront area in the context of new maglev high speed rail station area development, one of the biggest urban development projects in the City of Tokyo of the next decade. The operation of the new high-speed maglev rail station from 2030 will make Shinagawa a 70-70 new gateway, 70 minutes from Tokyo to Osaka for a region with 70 million population. The new infrastructure will compress the concept of space and time, and will change the inter-cities relation. Its future city vision will have profound impact to the urban forms, functions and experiences of the city. The project aims to develop a test bed of urban systems design to demonstrate how a smart community is designed, evaluated, and implemented in Japan by incorporating governmental agencies, stakeholders and communities, with focuses on urban design and modeling, urban analytics of big data, Internet of Things (IoT), smart mobility and eco urban performance evaluation.

2020: Puerto Rico Studio - Making Cataño Count

Celine Apollon, Kamau As-Salaam, Jonathan Braun, Andrea Ferreira, Haley Hart, Robert Highfield, Matthew Lim, Jasmine Jones-Bynes, Kyla Prendergast. Under the supervision of Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor and Alberto Fuentes, Assistant Professor.

This year’s studio focused on the United States Decennial Census efforts for 2020. Puerto Rico, as an underrepresented territory within the United States, was a driving motivator for this project. The studio was assigned to Cataño, a small municipality just across the bay from the capital, San Juan. Cataño faces disproportionate levels of hard-to-count and underrepresented populations within the greater metropolitan area. Both the Cataño government and Puerto Rican Planning Board were assigned as the studio’s clients.

2019: Lindbergh Studio

Students on a site visit for the Lindbergh studio.
Students on a site visit for the Lindbergh studio.

Laurel Corrao, Ian Karra, Jenna Krieger, Sharon Ling , Katie Martin, Callie Orsini , Ruth Pimentel , Luben Raychev, Jacob Whitacre , and Chelsea Zakas. Under the supervisor of Aaron Fortner, Part-Time Lecturer for the School of City and Regional Planning.

This studio worked in the Lindbergh neighborhood of Atlanta (north of Midtown, south of Buckhead), focusing on Peachtree Creek which runs, relatively concealed, throughout the neighborhood and the surrounding greenway. This neighborhood has been traditionally affordable compared to the surrounding neighborhoods of Midtown and Buckhead, and it is also one of the Atlanta neighborhoods with the least amount of green space per the population.

Over the next few years, there are several proposed multi-purpose paths and new transit lines in the neighborhood, including the Beltline Trail, BeltLine Rail, and a new MARTA line to Emory. Our team focused on urban design, development, green space for the neighborhood, and transportation changes, including bridges and transit. We had several stakeholders, including City of Atlanta, GDOT, Atlanta BeltLine, Atlanta CityCouncil, MARTA, Passion City Church, Rollins, Inc., Peachtree Creek Greenway, and PATH 400. 

2019: Little Five Points

Public meeting for the Little Five Points studio
Students present at a public meeting for the Little Five Points studio.

Daniel Arias, Cameron Boissiere, Ed Caddell, Kelly Dervarics, Deborah Postma, Cooper Scranton, Rachel Staley, and Charles Stickels. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins, Professor of Practice with guidance from the Little Five Points Alliance.

The Little Five Points studio set out to assist the recently formed umbrella organization of neighborhoods and businesses around Little Five Points (L5P) with identifying and advancing common interests. The studio worked with the Little Five Points Alliance to engage the community and identify a planning framework for future plans and actions.

Issues identification emerged through reading history and past reports, extensive field trips, and engagement with all the relevant citizen and business organizations. The studio determined opportunities in connectivity and economic development and presented those final ideas to the stakeholders.

2019: Atlanta Public Schools

Jasmine Burnett, Pearse Haley, Shikha Jerath, Kelsey Keane, Kyle Mayans, Jessica Rose, Alex Seidenberg, Lucie Scott, and Kara Todd. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins, Professor of Practice.

In March 2019, the Atlanta Board of Education began updating the facilities master plan with the goal of optimizing usage and efficacy of properties. The board requested that a team of MCRP students complete a semester-long studio to complement Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and their team of consultants.

This studio sought to bridge the divide of city planning and school facility planning efforts–a gap that undermines the development of community-centered schools. Even when these planning efforts have worked toward similar goals, they lack an integrated approach that meets student and community needs. The studio established decision-making frameworks and initial recommendations for four properties based on APS’ stated priorities and goals. 

A guiding principle for our process was equity. Reflecting this priority, and in alignment with APS’ goals, our team evaluated potential uses for APS vacant properties that adhere to the following objectives:

  1. Prioritize the equitable distribution of resources and opportunity.
  2. Address the intrinsic connection between student and community success.
  3. Foster community engagement and buy-in for new initiatives.

2019: Puerto Rico Disaster Mitigation and Recovery

Students in front of the UP sign in Puerto Rico
The studio group together in front of the University of Puerto Rico's sign.

Anna Baggett, Adam Borsch, Paul-Emile Brice, Carson Cooper, Paul DeMerritt, Mirit Friedman, Meng Gao, Laura Geronimo, Jennifer Johnson, Nick Johnson, Roberto Morales Román, Ryan Schlom, and Will Tucker. Under the supervision of Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor and Alberto Fuentes, Assistant Professor.

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. 

2019: Exploring the City of Varanasi’s Smart City Ambitions

Students on Holi in India
Students and faculty celebrating Holi during their site visit to Varanasi, India.

Sreekar Boddupalli, Chia-Huai (Chris) Chang, Florina Dutt, Leigh Huffman, Regan Jones, Sanskruti Joshi, Deep Patel, Daniel Son, Curtis Tyger, Under the supervision of Subhro Guhathakurta, Chair & Professor and Ramachandra Sivakumar, Senior Research Engineer.

The ancient city of Varanasi, India is one of the oldest and continuously inhabited cities in the world dating back thousands of years. The city is described as a place of temples and learning and is considered a cradle of Hindu faith. The city is home to an array of temples, shrines, and palaces along the banks of the river Ganges. It is also a commercial and industrial center famous for its silk fabrics, perfumes, ivory works, wooden toys, sculpture, and other handmade crafts. The Government of India’s “Smart Cities Mission” has initiated a massive $14 billion urban renewal and retrofitting program to develop 100 cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable in collaboration with candidate cities. Varanasi is one among them.

The students worked in collaboration with researchers and Ph.D. students from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) and the Indian Institute of Technology Benaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU)

2019: International Urban Design Studio 2019, Kyojima

Students preparing for a presentation in a high rise in Tokyo.
Students making their final presentation to stakeholders in Kyojima, Tokyo.

Sophia Carpenter, Helen Chen, Justina Everhart, Taylor Gibbs, Chris Karam, and Trevor McCoy. Under the supervision of Perry Yang, Associate Professor.

The site for the Spring 2019 Tokyo Smart City Studio is the Kyojima district in Sumida Ward, northeast of the city center and home of the famous Tokyo Skytree. Much of the neighborhood retains its mid-20th century charm, consisting of tightly packed low-rise buildings and many narrow streets and alleys.

The studio worked with its Tokyo partners to make informed design decisions based on a vast array of data and analyses. The studio has delved into topics like flood mitigation, disaster relief, urban farming, systems and spacial modeling, and creating an interactive virtual representation of Kyojima. It pulls from a wide variety of subject areas, such as Internet of Things (IOT), Big Data, urban analytics, mobility and transportation, ecological performance analysis, and site planning and design. The aim is to conceive of a future plan for a smart and ecologically sound Kyojima. 

Past Studios

Studios from past years can be found below. You'll notice that students complete a myriad of work all over Atlanta and across the globe.

Cultivating Connections: A Housing and Economic Development Implementation Strategy for the Mechanicsville Neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia

Grace Barrett, Emily Baxter, James Burge, Melody Carter, Tyler Coyle, Brianna Davison, Seth Furman, Andrea Sherman, Andrew Smith, Michael Smith, and Andreas Wolfe. Under the supervision of Lynn Patterson.

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.

 

Powder Springs: Corridor and Connectivity Plan

Darian Agnew, Claire Bleckley, Jack Denison, Grace Graszer, Jeremy Greenwald, Andrew Hanus, Clare Healy, Jiayan Ma, Eric Scott, Jonathan Sherman, and Nick Stephens. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins.

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.

 

A Climate Action Plan for Chapala, Mexico

Melanie Dieg, Dorraine Duncan, Symone Howard, Maggie Kelley, Alex Morrison, Pooja Rao, and Ali Yildirim. Under the supervision of Timothy Welch.

This studio was tasked to work on the issue of climate change. Climate change is the most significant challenge currently facing urban planners. To address the potential impacts of climate change, plans must be developed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adapt the built environment to the new climate and ensure all citizens are treated equitably in the process. The contributors to global warming GHG and the potential impacts of climate change vary significantly between nations, states and localities. As a result, much of the climate change planning process is occurring at the local level. The Spring 2018 Chapala Studio has partnered with students and faculty at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), Departamento de Proyectos Urbanísticos (Department of Urban Planning) to develop a climate plan for the city. 

 

International Urban Design Studio 2018, Kyojima-Sumida District, Tokyo

Abaan Ali, Boruo Chen, Ghazaleh Coulter, Tate Davis, Chelsea Dyess, Ricardo Garcia Baez, Nathaniel Horadam, Rebekah Kim, Philippe Kimura-Thollander, Abigail Marinelli, Alyssa McKay, Isabel Sepkowitz, Jed Tanglao, Rebecca Van Dyke, James Waldon, Daniel Walls, and Yanlin Wu. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.

The International Urban Design Studio is an on-going initiative in the College of Design’s international programs and projects. This studio completed a smart city project at the Kyojima-Sumida district in Tokyo. The studio is in collaboration with the Global Carbon Project (GCP), the National Institute of Environmental Studies of Japan and the University of Tokyo. 

International Urban Design Studio 2017, Urawa-Misono District, Tokyo

Abigail Aragon, Robert Binder, Karina Brasgalla, Emma French, Dontrey Garnett, Zachary Hicks, Bonwoo Koo, Zachary Lancaster, Marcela Moreno, Gabriel Jian Pang, Ellen Ray, Sean Rencurrell, Patricia Samartzis, Paul Steidl, Revathi Roopini Veriah, Wenhui Yang, and Tianran Zeng. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.

The International Urban Design Studio is an on-going initiative in the College of Design’s international programs and projects. This studio completed a smart city project at the Urawa-Misono district, one of the 2020 Olympics sites, in Tokyo. The project aimed to develop a smart and ecologically sound community as a pilot project to demonstrate how a smart city is designed, evaluated, and financed in Japan by incorporating experts and stakeholders in the areas of urban design and modeling, urban analytics for big data, IoT (Internet of Things) technology, smart home, smart mobility, eco urban performance evaluation, and green finance industry. The studio was in collaboration with the Global Carbon Project (GCP), the National Institute of Environmental Studies of Japan, the University of Tokyo and Misono’s Urban Design Center UDCMi, a governmental planning agency.

 

Gateway 85 Community Improvement District, Jimmy Carter Blvd., GA

Samantha Browne, Bryan Diacetis, Andyan Diwangkari, Imane El Joundi, Allison Galloway, Gordon Glass, Mishele Ijaz, Erin Johnson, Chao Meng, Sarina Sawyer, Jeevan Sanjay Senthil Kumar, and Chris Thayer. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins.

This studio conducted a comprehensive framework visioning exercise in the fall of 2017. Building on its unique assets, the Gateway 85 Community Improvement District (CID) embarked on a set of strategies to propel the Jimmy Carter Boulevard corridor forward to identify, reveal, foreground, and celebrate its richly evolving cultural and physical assets. The Atlanta Regional Commission and the CID launched a Livable Communities (LCI) program directed at capturing the visions of what’s possible from the studio work into an LCI report to create fundable projects. The studio’s 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 and cultures to: 

  • develop a comprehensive understanding of the diverse, rich, and vibrant Gateway 85 Gwinnett Community Improvement District 
  • create a placemaking framework to spotlight the special character of the Jimmy Carter Boulevard Corridor and its neighborhoods. 

 

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

Sigal Carmenate, Christy Dodson, Sara Douglass, Dara Epstein, Alexandra Erwin, Megan French, Mary Hirt, Chris McIntosh, Caitlin Mildner, Ian Michael Rogers, John Saxton, and Kelsey Waidhas. Under the supervision of Gary Cornell.

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. 

I-85 Mission Zero Corridor: The Ray C. Anderson Memorial Highway.

Lindsay Brown, Elizabeth Carroll, Will Cioffi, Sarthak Dhingra, Rebecca Duncan, Sammy Shams, Imeri Kelly, Cierra McClary, and Melissa Tertichny.  Under the supervision of Richard Dagenhart.

This studio team aimed to design the first highway that would show the world what infrastructural sustainability is in all its dimensions. Through a focus on people, place and technology, the highway of the future will be net zero, restorative, generative, responsible, respectful and informative – by 2040 – and in doing so it will set a new standard through the power of its impact. Mission Zero corridor, now in the first stages of implementation, promotes thoroughfares that encourage connectivity and responsible development. 

 

International Urban Design Studio 2016: Shanghai--Disney.

Hannah Ackerman, Camilla Dartnell, Florina Dutt, Juliana Echeverri, Olivia Ginn, Elizabeth Gwinn, Taryn Heidel,Cirin Hooper, John Koon, Kim Mitchell, Shelley Price, Steven Qian, Calvin Qiu, Yong Cheng Soo, Michael Tobey, Erik Woodworth, Yihan Wu, and Angelica Yanten. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.

During this studio, students assisted the Shen-D Corporation with the creation of evaluative tools and guidelines for integratively designing a near net zero energy community just south of the forthcoming Disneyland theme park in Shanghai, China. The team consisted of urban planning, architecture, and environmental engineering students. 

 

Clarkston Speaks

Ashley Bozarth, Anindya Debnath, Richard Duckworth, Emily Estes, Ryan Fleming, Margaret Kent, Kevin Mara, Phoebe Mayor, Grant Patterson, Austin Shelton, Deepti Silwal, Cole Smith, Nene Igietseme. Under the supervision of Anna Joo Kim.  

The City of Clarkston partnered with the School of City & Regional Planning at Georgia Tech to better understand its constituents through an extensive study and outreach campaign dubbed “Clarkston Speaks.” New American Pathways, a refugee resettlement agency, worked with the School to evaluate and suggest improvements to services offered to refugees and immigrants. Over four months, Tech researchers surveyed 636 city residents and conducted focus groups and interviews with 76 NAP program participants and 3 mentors. The results of the study have implications for how the local community engages in planning and for how the city attempts to connect with Clarkston’s refugee and immigrant populations. 

 

Smyrna Crossroads: A Vision for the Spring Road Corridor

Spandana Anand, Matt Bedsole, Jack Cebe, David DeLeon, Jordan Howard, Zahra Jeena, Jing Kong, Mia McKinney, Anna Nord, Elliot Sperling, and Sean (Shahaboddin) Toroghi. Supervised by Michael Dobbins. 

Through an intensive four-month studio process, the Georgia Tech team, with feedback from many stakeholders, developed a number of recommendations intended to transform the Spring Road corridor in Smyrna, GA into a thriving live, work, and play destination for Cobb County and the Atlanta region as Smyrna prepared for the opening of the new Braves Stadium on its border. They presented findings on study background and existing conditions, and correlating city wide recommendations as well as core area recommendations.

 

Downtown Atlanta 2041: Autonomous Vehicles and A-Street Grids

Meredith Blakeley, Sarah Jane Bonn, Eric Goldstein, Shijia Huang, Meghan mcMullen, Lu Pang, Mikhail Payson, Blake Reeves, Stacy Scott, and Animesh Shrestha. Supervised by Ellen Dunham-Jones.

Downtown 2041 is a speculative look 25 years into the future at the opportunities available to build on parking lots and create a walkable network of Class A streets and distinctive neighborhoods around Downtown’s many assets. The design proposals are based on conversations with stakeholders, and analysis of current conditions, as well as bold assumptions about the future impact of autonomous vehicles.

 

Discovering Development & Conservation Opportunities in North Central Florida

Megan Barrow, Abhishek Behera, Nico Boyd, Caroline Burnette, Catherine Butler, Sarah Carnes, Alex Hanson, Joshua Haston, Shriram Lele, Melanie Metal, Chulhong Park, and Andrew Smyth.

Weyerhaeuser, a real estate investment trust and one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, asked the studio team to develop alternative strategies for managing its 113,000-acre Lake Butler Forest properties in North Central Florida. As the region grows, pressures on Weyerhauser timberlands have intensified. The team's strategies function as a decision-making aid to guide the future development of the area, taking into account the pros and cons of their final strategies and the potential implications for adjoining landholdings and jurisdictions. In examining future development possibilities and evaluating potential alternative strategies, the team was asked to consider land use, economic development potential, urban design, transportation, and environmental factors to assess current conditions in the study area and identify relevant constraints and opportunities moving forward.  

International Urban Design Studio: Designing an Urban Eco District in Asia

Cary Bearn, Guillermo Bustos, Jennifer Grimes, Robby Guthart, Dan Kim, Kevin Lanza, Hoang Luu, Maria Moersen, Ranjani Prabhakar, Stephanie Smith, and Gloria Woods. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.

 

Workforce Development Studio: Panning for Economic Development in the Historic Westside

Austin Albert, Avrahim Blaut, Jean-Pierre Bourget, Mindy Kao, Anna Snyder Kelly, Jane Reasoner, Stefen Samarripas, Kimberly Tatum, Anne Welch. Under the Supervision of Anna Kim (with Westside Communities Alliance).

 

Imagine Our Norcross: Planning for Immigrant Integration

Katie O'Connel, Jessica Doyle, Kate Wilson, Jessica Plante, Ryan Bowman, Madi Shields, Eileen Chang, Kristin Byars, John Eric Schleicher, Nathan Coursey.  Fall 2015. Under the supervision of Anna Kim.

 

Transit Oriented Development Planning with Low Wealth Communities

Under the Supervision of Mike Dobbins.

 

Atlanta University Center

Joseph Boyd, Abram Lueders, Kat Maines, Briana Riddell. Under supervision of Mike Dobbins.

 

TEP/Westside Studio

Carly Queen, Chirag Date, Elizabeth Davis, Florina Dutt, Rishi Sanker. Under supervision of Mike Dobbins. 

 

Reignite Eastpoint: Activate Downtown

Sarah Jane Bonn, Adeline Collot, Mingyang Li, Meghan Mcmullen, Jeshua Pringle, Blake Reeves, Yihan Wu. Under supervision of Mike Dobbins.

 

Imagine Memorial

Marcus Ashdown, Corentin Auguin, Greg Giuffrida, Bakari Height, Wade Ingram, Charles Jiang, Jason Novsam, Ranjani Prabhakar, Elizabeth Vason, Li Yi. Under the Supervision of Mike Dobbins.

Redesigning Georgia School Siting and Design Processes: Issues, Alternatives, and Recommendations

Lindsay Anderson, Allison Bustin, Kirstin Cook, Khaliff Davis, Brian Mitchell, Steve Monnier, Katie Perumbeti, Brianna Ridnge. Under the supervision of Michael Elliot.

 

Memorial Drive Corridor Framework Plan

Under the Supervision of Mike Dobbins.

Connectivity and Atlanta's Core

Libbie Adams, Tharunya Balan, Bruce Battle, Meredith Britt, Sara Haas, Kyle James,Guanying Li, Jesse Zaro-Moore, Kait Morano, Marion Phillips, Taylor Tyger, Jeff Ultee. Under the supervision of Mike Dobbins andBruce Gunger. Studio Website.

 

The Economic Impact of Sea Level Rise on Port Savannah's Garden City Terminal & City of Darien

Carolyn Coburn, Andrew Cornwell, Joshua Gloster, Peter Hylton, John Risher, Jill Skinner, and Richard Wilson. Under the supervision of Jason Chernock. 

 

Strategic Planning for Kaohsiung's Free Economic Zone (FEZ) and New Asian Bay Area

Johnny Aguilar, Sherene Cadet, Dawn Riley, Canon Manley, Rebecca Keffer, LiWei Xie,Sinan Sinharoy, Daniel Braswell, Lauren Pessoa. Under the supervision of Perry Yang, Nancey Green Leigh, Richard Dagenhart, and Jige Quan. Studio Website.

 

City of Atlanta Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program

Seanna Berry, Dan Cotter, Alexandra Frackleton, Susannah Lee, Mackenzie Madden, Stephen McRae, Ted Ranney, Patrick Terranova, Travis Voyles. Under the supervision of Nancey Green Leigh and Nathanael Hoelzel.

 

Tracking the Effects of Sea Level Rise in Georgia's Coastal Communities

Gillam Campbell, Marvin Clermont, Kathryn Colberg, Richelle Gosman, Anna RoseHarkness, Amy Hugens, Paul Lorenc, Dzung Nguyen, Jennifer Yun, Joy Zhou. Under the supervision of Larry Keating and Dana Habeeb. Link to Blueprints for Successful Communities page

 

Northside Drive as a Multimodal Developmental Corridor: Transformation from Utilitarian Auto Route to Grand Transit Boulevard

Joel Anders, Tanya Bedward, Stefanie Brodie, Lauren Cardoni, Margaret Carragher, Rachel Cox, Aaron Gooze, Garrett Hyer, Amy Ingles, Lydia Kalinke, Josh Levin, SarahMcColley, Eric Phillips, Landon Reed, James Wong, Wunwun Zhang. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins. Studio Website.

 

Agrarian Urbanism: A Low Energy Urban Agriculture System

Carnell Brame, Tasha Brooks, Travis Hampton, John Minter, and Dung Nguyen. Under the supervision of Perry Yang. Poster.

 

Ashram Road Corridor Plan

Stefanie Brodie, John Kent, Eugene McGuinness, Alison Pienta, Maria Roell, and Kim Wadelton. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

 

Thaltej Village: An Incremental Approach to Urban Encroachment

Emily Brown, Allison Buchwach, Ryan Hagerty, Mary Richardson, Laura Schultz, and Bin Yan. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

 

Planning and Development Strategies for Holy Trinity, Alabama

Brijith Alex, James Bikoff, Wesley Brooks, Michael Hellier, M. Avi Kimmel, Victoria Lee, Audrey Leous, Kevin Mahoney, Michelle Mondragon, Min Na, John Rhodes, Jr., Drew Swope, Hans Williams, Cara Woods, Keenan Yates, and David Yoke, Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

 

Ecological Urbanism Studio: Global Benchmarking for Low Carbon Urban Design

View summary of presentation with graphics and report summary. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.
 

Agrarian Urbanism: A Low Energy Urban Agriculture System

Carnell Brame, Tasha Brooks, Travis Hampton, John Minter, and Dung Nguyen. Under the supervision of Perry Yang. Poster.

 

Ashram Road Corridor Plan

Stefanie Brodie, John Kent, Eugene McGuinness, Alison Pienta, Maria Roell, and Kim Wadelton. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

 

Thaltej Village: An Incremental Approach to Urban Encroachment

Emily Brown, Allison Buchwach, Ryan Hagerty, Mary Richardson, Laura Schultz, and Bin Yan. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

Planning and Development Strategies for Holy Trinity, Alabama

Brijith Alex, James Bikoff, Wesley Brooks, Michael Hellier, M. Avi Kimmel, Victoria Lee, Audrey Leous, Kevin Mahoney, Michelle Mondragon, Min Na, John Rhodes, Jr., Drew Swope, Hans Williams, Cara Woods, Keenan Yates, and David Yoke. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

 

 Revitalizing Lithonia, GA

Johanna McCrehan, Philip Schaeffing, and Elizabeth Ward. Under the supervision of Ellen Dunham-Jones.

 

Ecological Urbanism Studio: Global Benchmarking for Low Carbon Urban Design

View report summary of presentation with graphics and report summary. Under the supervision of Perry Yang.

 

A Web Application Approach to Street Sign Inventory Development

Dave Barg, Taylor Baxter, Stan Bouckaert, Matt DeVeau, Lucrecia Martinze, Micah Stryker, Marshall Willis, and You Zhou. Under the supervision of Jiawen Yang.

 

Action Plan for the Fort McPherson Community

Rati Akash, Zachary Adriaenssens, Kia Ball, Leslie Caceda, Carlos Campo, Chris Faulkner, Carolyn Knabel, Jenna E. Lee, Moki Macías, Drew Murray, Susan Prater, Neela Ram, Ruma Ram, Andrea Rattray, Stephanie Wansley. Under the supervision of Michael Dobbins.

Atlanta NPU-G Community Master Plan: A Live-Work-Play Approach to Upward Mobility

Colleen Allen, Tom Caiafa, Jesse Clark, Sarah Gitt, Kenneth Liwag, Emily McClendon, Andy McBurney, Alek Pochowski, Evan Robertson, and Erin Rosintoski. Under the supervision of Nancey Green Leigh.

 

Obesity and the Built Environment

Robert Buckley, Shannon Griffen, Olaava MacKenzie, Rebecca Man, Yi Lin Pei, Ashley Rivera, Joseph Staubes, Kyungsoon Wang, Lin Wang, Jin Xu, and Jaeho Yoon. Under the supervision of Jaiwen Yang. Summary here; full report sequestered.

 

International Urban Design Studio: Shanghai 2010

Stuart Dryden (MCRP '10), Renato Ghizoni (M.ARCH/MCRP '10), Drew Getty (MCRP '10), Louis Johnson (MS-UD 2010), Paul Jones (M.ARCH/MCRP '10), Diana Murphy (M.ARCH/MCRP '10), Edward Morrow (MCRP class of '11), Julie Sanders (M.ARCH and MCRP '10), Reginald Tabor (MS-UD '10), Claire Thompson (MS-UD/MCRP '10), Ross Wallace (M.ARCH/MCRP '10), Galen Williams (MS-UD '10), Howard Wang (M.ARCH '10). Under the supervision of Richard Dagenhart.

 

The Stadium Neighborhoods Tad: An Urban Design Strategy for Stakeholder Decisions

Cassie Branum (MSUD & MCRP ’10), Jason Combs (MCRP & MSUD ’10), Dan Hawthorne (MARCH ‘10), Justin Chapman (MCRP ‘10) and three seniors: Hrach Burtoyan, Kristin Kellogg, and Taylor Smith (BS ARCH '10). Under the supervision of Richard Dagenhart.

Industrial Land and Sustainable Industry in the City of Atlanta

Kale Driemeier, Nathan Hoelzel, Rahul Jain, Jodi Mansbach, Edward Morrow, Charlie Moseley, Shelley Stevens, ErmiZayas. Under the supervision of Nancey Green Leigh.

 

A Sustainable Development Plan for the Proposed Friendship Village

Claudius Anderson, Chelsea Arkin, Philip Blaiklock, Cassie Branum, David Caimbeul, Thomas Drake, Joe Collums, Lane Conville, Jessical Doyle, Thomas Drake, Binh Duong, Maria Kovacheva, Nathan Lawrence, Aria Ritz Finkelstein,  John Skach, and Tasheika Tucker. Under the supervision of Richard Dagenhart and Nancey Green Leigh.

 

Chattanooga Downtown Westside

Branum Cassie Branum, Finkelstein, Aria Finkelsten, Thompson, Claire Thompson, Caimbeul, David Caimbeul, Binh Duong, Maria Kovacheva, Alexis Faraci, Heather Hussey, Robert Thorn, Jeremy Wilhelm, and Joseph Winters. Under the supervision of Richard Dagenhart and Perry Yang.

 

Strategies for Neighborhood Recovery: High Point, Joyland and Chosewood Park, Atlanta

Won S. Lee, Leonard Brandon, Kirsten Berry, Nicholas Mullins, Alyssa Sinclair, Christine Mager, Brooks Smith, Mary Beth Hawes, Troels Adrian, Yung San Lee. Under the supervision of Harley Etienne.

 

Newton County Land Conservation Plan

Molly Allen, Sarahjoy Crewe, David D'Onofrio, Aaron Fowler, Elizabeth Hagan, Elizabeth Hight, Marisa Lang, Andrea Lytle, Brian Smart, Matthew Tester. Under the supervision of Randall Roark.
 

Vacant Housing and Economic Development in the English Avenue Neighborhood of Atlanta

Brook Brandon, Stephen Causby, A. "Reggie" Delahanty, Brian Jacobs, Elisabeth Kulinski, Michelle Larsen, Jessie Lawrence, Carl Mikalonous, Heather McCarey, Reginald McClendon, Steven Simms, and Brett Wearting. Under the supervision of Harley Etienne.

 

Collier Village

Jaimye Bartak, David Carter, Shabana Charaniya, Bradley David, Glenn Frankel, Ilan Guest, Victor Helin, Colleen Kiernan, Thomas McCracken, Michael Morton, Holden Spaht, Joshua Scott Stephens, Jing Xu. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

 

Lindbergh-LaVista Corridor Coalition

JP Alexander, Nathan Barnett, Patrick Bradshaw, Jason Combs, Nancy Galewski, Blair Garvvey, Mary Kaiser, KaleahLambert, Andrew Mayronne, Eric Pfeifer, Jessica Rafferty, Zack Ray, Mathew Roe, Jason Vargo, Jared Yarsevich. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

Piedmont Heights

Jason Chernock, Stephen Conschafter, Dana Habeeb, Jennifer Harper, Kyu Hwang, Xandon Keating, Young Kim, Steve Lewandowski, Jennifer Indech Nelson, Melanie Nelson, Jerry Page, Laurel Paget-Seekins, Sharon Qin, Alexa Stephens, Ada Sung, Talya Trudell, Kai Zuehlke. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

City ReAssembly: When the Auto Plant Closes: Redevelopment Opportunities of Auto Assembly Plants in Doraville

Susan Cohn, Marc Dixon, Miguel Granier, Kenwin Hayes, Rick Liu, David Pierce, and Samantha Singer. Under the supervision of Nancey Green Leigh, John Skach, and Richard Dagenhart.

 

City ReAssembly: When the Auto Plant Closes. Redevelopment Opportunities of Auto Assembly Plants in Hapeville.

Jeri Cerere, Andrea Foard, Nathan Mai-Lombardo, Jeff Owen, Jay Perlmutter, Ryan Sheriff, and Jon Tuley. Under the supervision of Nancey Green Leigh, John Skach, and Richard Dagenhart.

 

Pittsburgh

Saskia Benjamin, John Rees, Vani Herlekar, Brian Stockton, Chirayu Bhatt, Scott Brown. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

 

Middle Chattahoochee Watershed

Joanna Arthur Wilkins, Nita Bhave, Danielle Bower, Brad Calvert, Kathryn Frank, Trupti Kalbag, Jonathan Lewis, Jane Lim, Carrie Riordan, David Schilling, Kimberly Zimmerman. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

 

Toccoa and Stephens County

Kris Anderson, K. Lynn Berry, Christian Gable, Woody Giles, Brittain Skinner, Matt Vivian. Link to report prepared by the Georgia Conservancy based, in part, on the studio work.

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