Georgia Institute of TechnologyCenter for Quality Growth and Regional Development

Center for Quality Growth & Regional Development

Technology Square CQGRD-related development project

PROJECTS

 

Atlanta Housing Authority's HOPE VI Revitalization of Grady Homes Study (2009)

AHA Grady Homes Study Project (2009)

CQGRD is working to measure the performance and impact of the Atlanta Housing Authority's (AHA) revitalization of Grady Homes into a mixed-income/mixed-finance community, through the use of a HOPE VI grant in conjunction with private investment dollars. The major objectives are to determine the impact of the effort on the quality of life on residents who lived at Grady Homes at the time of the HOPE VI award, to evaluate the extent to which the mixed-income revitalization stimulates economic development in the surrounding community, and to evaluate AHA's success at achieving the goals of family self-sufficiency through a physically redesigned environment.

View the AHA Grady Homes Study project (2009) page

   
   

Troup County, GA Strategic Plan (2009)

Troup County Plan (2009)

To explore how best to leverage the growth coming to West Georgia, leaders from Troup County and the cities of Hogansville, LaGrange, and West Point have undertaken a two-year planning initiative with Georgia Tech designed to set the course for a sustainable future. The goal of the effort is to identify innovative strategies for promoting quality growth, fostering healthy economic development, enhancing the quality of life and protecting Troup County’s sense of place and community.

View the Troup County Plan (2009) page

   
   

Megaregions and Transportation Planning Framework (2009)

Megaregions and Transportation Planning Project (2009)

This project outlines a strategy for exploring the potential of the megaregion as a value-added structure that will guide national transportation policy and investment, while explicitly addressing the relationships among demographic change, land resources, infrastructure investment, and economic development. It examines mechanisms to plan for, finance, and supply infrastructure that reinforce the competitiveness of current leading economic regions, while simultaneously linking to rural areas and under-performing regions that often experience only the negative externalities of economic growth. This research project has been designed to analyze the broad spectrum of possibilities of integrating the megaregion concept into current decision-making processes for transportation investment in the U.S.

View the Megaregions and Transportation Planning project (2009) page

   
   

Atlanta Metropolitan Congestion Pricing Study (2008)

Congestion Pricing Study (2008)

This project will provide a comprehensive examination of public perceptions and preferences regarding pricing options in metropolitan Atlanta. Results of the project will help guide the Georgia Department of Transportation and the State Road and Tollway Authority of Georgia in the siting, evaluation, and implementation of future congestion pricing strategies.

View the Congestion Pricing Study (2008) page

   
   

Hospital Impacts on Community Health: A Study of Piedmont Hospital (2008)

Piedmont Hospital HIA Project (2008)

Georgia Tech’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assessed the public health impacts on people living and working near a large hospital. This study builds on the Atlanta BeltLine Health Impact Assessment (HIA) by focusing on Piedmont Hospital, which is located in one of the BeltLine’s key redevelopment nodes. Significant public and private investment will be targeted in this area. This Health Impact Assessment thus provides scholars and the public more information in improving public health and promoting active living in this area through redevelopment.

View the Piedmont Hospital HIA project (2008) page

   
   

City of Decatur, GA Community Transportation Plan and Rapid HIA (2007)

Decatur Transportation Plan (2007)

Active Living through active travel is the call to action for the City of Decatur, GA. Decatur, a city of approximately 20,000 residents located in the largely auto-oriented Atlanta metropolitan area, has chosen to take a decidedly different course than many of its neighboring cities. It has embraced the principles and research surrounding active living to develop a Community Transportation Plan. Decatur has created a new Active Living Division within the Department of Community and Economic Development. The Division will combine traditional recreation programs with quality of life programs like environmental sustainability, alternative transportation planning and efforts to encourage an active living lifestyle. The International City/County Management Association is committed to track the outcomes and community benefits of Decatur’s Active Living Division in a two-year study that will identify performance measures and best practices for other cities.

View the Decatur Transportation Plan (2007) page

   
   

Healthy Housing: Forging the Economic and Empirical Foundation (2007)

Healthy Housing Project (2007)

Healthy Housing: Forging the Economic and Empirical Foundation identifies the economic and empirical links between housing and health, develops a new conceptual model on the complex effects of housing on health, identifies the direct and indirect links between housing and health, benchmarks the current housing and health link for the 13-county Atlanta region, and presents recommendations and future research needs to strengthen the link between housing and health.

View the Healthy Housing project (2007) page

   
   

City of Milton, GA Bike and Pedestrian Plan (2007)

Milton Trail Bike and Pedestrian Plan (2007)

CQGRD worked in conjunction with Georgia Tech's City and Regional Planning Program and the Center for GIS to produce a Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan for the newly established City of Milton, GA. This plan proposes a network of multiuse trails to connect Milton’s neighborhoods with its parks, schools, libraries, stores, sports facilities, and other public spaces.

View the Milton Trail Bike and Pedestrian Plan (2007) page

   
   

Atlanta BeltLine Health Impact Assessment (2007)

Atlanta BeltLine HIA Project (2007)

The Atlanta BeltLine would convert a 22-mile span of freight railway into a transit and trail loop, surrounded by parks and residential and commercial development. When we start a new development project, are we building a healthy place? How do we understand the health impacts of a new development? To answer these questions for the Atlanta BeltLine redevelopment project, CQGRD conducted a Health Impact Assessment (HIA). A HIA is a collection of procedures and tools by which projects, policies, and programs can be evaluated based on their potential effects on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population. While the HIA tool is widely used abroad, the BeltLine HIA is one of the first conducted in the United States.

View the Atlanta BeltLine HIA project (2007) page

   
   

Community and Environmental Scan and Assessment: Atlanta Regional Freight Mobility Plan (2007)

Freight Mobility Plan (2007)

This study involves data collection via surveys and interviews of freight stakeholders, identification and assessment of existing and future freight movement, development of freight-supported land use guidelines, evaluation of environmental and social impacts related to freight movement and development of strategies, and recommendations to proactively address freight and goods movement needs and challenges in the Atlanta region. CQGRD's contribution examines five existing or emerging freight corridors designated by the Atlanta Regional Commission. The resulting study measures community and environmental impacts, both specific to certain freight areas and seen across all areas, and provides ways to best mitigate these impacts while ensuring continued freight mobility.

View the Freight Mobility Plan (2007) page

   
   

A Time for Leadership: Growth Management and Florida 2060 (2006)

Florida Coast Project (2006)

A Time for Leadership presents a new growth-policy framework based on “the four Ps”: patterns, preservation, passages, and places. A Time for Leadership builds on the 2003 report by the Florida Chamber Foundation entitled New Cornerstone, which called for a shift from growth management to growth leadership.

View the Florida Coast project (2006) page

   
   

Georgia Coast 2030: Population Projections (2006)

Georgia Coast Project (2006)

CQGRD completed 2030 population projections for the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center in 2006. The projections included the six coastal counties as well as four adjacent inland counties. In addition, projections were completed for all incorporated cities within the 10-county region. The projection methodology used in this study was designed to take into account more recent economic and demographic trends to reflect the unique conditions of this rapidly growing area.

View the Georgia Coast project (2006) page

   
   

Economic Diversification of Camden County, GA: Quality Growth and Development Report (2005)

Camden County Project (2005)

CQGRD worked in conjunction with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute to employ tools, such as a quality growth audit, to identify obstacles to achieving the community's vision for its future and to provide examples and recommendations which community members could use while planning for the future. This study also explored a comprehensive infrastructure management program to help manage growth in a coastal community.

View the Camden County project (2005) page

   
   

The Atlanta BeltLine: Transit Feasibility White Paper (2005)

BeltLine Transit Feasibility Project (2005)

The BeltLine Transit Panel was assembled by the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA) to review the studies done to date on the BeltLine project and assess and comment on the feasibility of the transit component and how it might function in relation to an integrated transit system for Central Atlanta. The end purpose of this work is to synthesize the information developed on the BeltLine for its transit potential and provide guidance and suggest principles on how the BeltLine transit might develop over time.

View the BeltLine Transit Feasibility project (2005) page

   
   

Development Potential of the SR365 Corridor in Hall County, GA: A Quality Growth Study (2004)

Hall County Project (2004)

This study explores transportation, green infrastructure, and livability opportunities and constraints in this rapidly growing county in northwest Georgia, between Atlanta and Chattanooga.

View the Hall County project (2004) page

   
   

Incremental Urbanism: New Models for the Redesign of America's Commercial Strips (2004)

Incremental Urbanism Project (2004)

One of CQGRD's first projects was to assess Buford Highway, running from the Perimeter to Midtown in Metro Atlanta, and speculate on what a better future could be. Buford Highway is one of the most dangerous corridors for pedestrians in the United States, yet it houses a diverse population that is more likely to walk for transportation. This study explore an urban retrofit by changing the strip from dangerous, dysfunctional highway to healthy, functional boulevard.

View the Incremental Urbanism project (2004) page

   
   

Health Impact Assessment: Tool for Planning and Analysis (2004)

HIA Tools for Planning Project (2004)

View the HIA Tools for Planning project (2004) page

   
   

Metropolitan Atlanta: Alternative Land Use Futures Project (2003)

Alternative Land Use Project (2003)

Completed in February 2003, the project was designed to inform the ongoing regional discussion on land use issues and a growing population. It was undertaken in response to the low-density development that characterized the region's growth patterns in the 1990s. The project constructed and tested three distinct alternatives to future land use planning, including focusing on corridors, centers, or environmental sensitivity.

View the Alternative Land Use project (2003) page