{"63151":{"#nid":"63151","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech City Planning Students Lend Expertise to Neighborhood in Need","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents from Georgia Tech\u2019s School of City and Regional\nPlanning are offering their expertise this semester by working with Atlanta\narea communities to develop a long-term plan for their neighborhoods.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Nancey Green Leigh and her class of graduate\nstudents are partnering with Georgia Conservancy and community leaders of Neighborhood\nPlanning Unit (NPU) G located on the west side of Atlanta close to the\nintersection of Interstate 285 and Hollowell Parkway to improve the area.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe neighborhood has many challenges,\u201d said Leigh.\u0026nbsp; \u201cIt is one of Atlanta\u2019s neighborhoods with\nthe least amount of development, most neglected green space and greatest\nsocio-economic challenges.\u0026nbsp; The major\nsource of employment and business in NPU-G is the Atlanta Industrial Park,\nwhich is separated from the rest of the community by I-285.\u0026nbsp; The neighborhood once housed four public\nhousing projects, all of which have been demolished, but only one of which has\nbeen redeveloped.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile the hilly, virtually rural terrain throughout the\nneighborhood gives way to some beautiful views of the city, the community has a\nclosed\u0026nbsp;landfill\nthat poses environmental challenges and limits development opportunities for\nits surroundings.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech students met with community members, leaders\nand elected officials to develop a comprehensive analysis of the area and learn\nmore about the neighborhood\u2019s history.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were really pleased to hear what the community saw as\nits needs,\u201d said Erin Rosintoski, a graduate student working on her master\u2019s degree\nin City Planning with a specialization in land use and urban design.\u0026nbsp; \u201cMany of the items that they brought to our\nattention verified what our research had told us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt is a food desert,\u201d said Leigh.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThere is no access within the neighborhood\nto a quality grocery store that would provide a range of produce options. The\nneighborhood also lacks pharmacies, healthcare options and banking.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe neighborhood does have some significant natural\nresources and a history of community that can serve as foundations for redevelopment\nplanning.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe residential portion of the community borders the\nChattahoochee River and it has Proctor Creek running through it,\u201d said\nLeigh.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThe neighborhood has proximity\nto the Beltline, and these amenities could help bring new life to the area.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe older residents who had lived there for 30, 40 and even\n50 years told us how prosperous this neighborhood had once been,\u201d said Rosintoski.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThey spoke about the dairy farms that used to\ncover the area and how there was a tremendous sense of community.\u0026nbsp; It was interesting to hear how the roots of\nthe neighborhood started.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFor these young city and regional planners, their semester-long\nproject will culminate with the seeds of how to repair and grow the community\ngoing forward.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe industrial park and the former housing project sites\nhave the potential to provide significant new development and job creation. According\nto Leigh, the next step is to suggest to the city of Atlanta how it can make\nthis industrial land stronger and to suggest to the Atlanta Housing Authority\nideas for three different mixed-use developments on the former housing sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe level of poverty surrounding Atlanta\u2019s industrial areas\nis much higher than the rest of the city,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThese areas have jobs and could have more\njobs.\u0026nbsp; You want to link those possibilities\nwith the neighborhood. One of our primary goals is to increase the connections\nthat this community has with Atlanta.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe students will unveil the complete list of recommendations\non December 15, but they have some other ideas of how to help.\u0026nbsp; They also plan to suggest making additional\nrecreational areas, create community gardens and address some of the\ntransportation issues by creating a better design for the flow of traffic in\nand out of the neighborhood.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are trying to create a better understanding of the community\u2019s\nchallenges and innovative approaches to those challenges,\u201d said Leigh.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe provide students with a strong city and\nregional planning education and the ability to apply their skill sets to a\ncommunity challenge, but as an educator at a major research Institute, I also\nwant to push the field further. This project has presented some excellent\npossibilities for doing that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents from Georgia Tech\u2019s School of City and Regional\nPlanning are offering their expertise this semester by working with Atlanta\narea communities to develop a long-term plan for their neighborhoods.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students work with communities to develop long-term plans"}],"uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2010-12-14 10:11:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:54","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-12-14T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-12-14T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"63149":{"id":"63149","type":"image","title":"Nancey Green Leigh","body":null,"created":"1449176649","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:09","changed":"1475894552","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:32","alt":"Nancey Green Leigh","file":{"fid":"191753","name":"Nancey_Green_Leigh.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nancey_Green_Leigh_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Nancey_Green_Leigh_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2024705,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Nancey_Green_Leigh_0.jpg?itok=tPvFknLt"}},"63150":{"id":"63150","type":"image","title":"City and Regional Planning Graduate Student","body":null,"created":"1449176649","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:09","changed":"1475894552","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:32","alt":"City and Regional Planning Graduate Student","file":{"fid":"191754","name":"Erin_Rosintoski.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Erin_Rosintoski_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Erin_Rosintoski_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1615610,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Erin_Rosintoski_0.jpg?itok=BWhTBKR3"}}},"media_ids":["63149","63150"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.planning.gatech.edu\/","title":"City and Regional Planning"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech College of Architecture"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.planning.gatech.edu\/people\/nancey-green-leigh-faicp","title":"Nancey Green Leigh"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"489","name":"atlanta"},{"id":"1351","name":"City and Regional Planning"},{"id":"926","name":"College of Architecture"},{"id":"11449","name":"Georgia Concervancy"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"9772","name":"nancey green leigh"},{"id":"11447","name":"NPU G"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mattnagel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}