Georgia Tech School of City & Regional Planning

Vernacular Architecture and Grassroots Urban Politics: How Political Ties are Embedded in Residential Design. Noah Nathan, MIT Tuesday 25 March, 11h00-12h00, Inman Park Room, Exhibition Hall. This talk – which focuses on urban housing in West Africa - is co-sponsored by the Georgia Tech Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and the Georgia Tech School of City & Regional Planning, Global Development Program. Abstract: The physical structures in which urban life occurs are an underappreciated determinant of how grassroots urban politics unfolds. In many rapidly growing cities, housing scarcity forces residents into multifamily buildings that create daily exposures to neighbors. We argue that these exposures affect political behavior by shaping residents’ access to political information, integration into political networks, and capacity for collective action. We focus on the informal, vernacular architecture of West Africa’s dominant urban housing form -- the compound house. Compound house residents in urban Ghana participate more in politics than similar residents of other housing types. Leveraging an original survey, including novel measures of tenants’ spatial network centrality within their residential buildings, we suggest that key mechanisms for this relationship emerge from the effects of architectural design on visibility and social ties among co-tenants. Ultimately, built environments must be studied alongside demographic environments to best understand contextual effects on political behavior.

We are pleased to share our recent paper, which is available for everyone to (open) access. In this paper, we use a comprehensive dataset of GPS-tracked actual walking paths from Chicago, combined with Google Street View and deep learning techniques, to explore pedestrian preferences for built environment attributes in their route choices. It goes a step further by incorporating the sociodemographic factors of respondents, enabling an examination of how street features influence pedestrian choices differently across various genders, ages, and income groups. Additionally, we use the trade-offs concept to calculate the route length coefficient ratio to other variables in the utility function. This ratio quantifies the extent to which pedestrians are willing to walk additional distances to seek or avoid specific street attributes, allowing a comparison of each variable’s effect across diverse demographic groups. The findings of this study can advance transportation planning and urban design by providing a measurable method for understanding and improving walkability for diverse groups in an urban setting. The link to the article: https://lnkd.in/enRAi_qn #walkability #pedestrian #walking #travel Georgia Tech School of City & Regional Planning Georgia Tech College of Design Seung Jae Lieu

?? Building a Better Downtown Atlanta: Jennifer Ball’s Vision and Leadership ?? Jennifer Ball, Chief Operating Officer of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP), has spent her career reshaping downtown Atlanta into a vibrant, livable community. As a two-time Georgia Tech alumna with degrees in Georgia Tech School of Architecture and City Planning, Ball has led transformative projects like the Stitch vision plan, the Atlanta Arts & Entertainment District, and the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan. Her secret to success? Perseverance, creative problem-solving, and a commitment to collaboration. “I think more than anything, that is something that Georgia Tech instills. Not just being stuck when you don't know exactly what to do. What do you do? How do you pivot?” Ball explains. Her journey shows that determination and creativity can drive real change. And while she credits her success to good fortune and supportive networks, her impact on downtown Atlanta’s future is undeniable. #Leadership #UrbanPlanning #GeorgiaTechDesign #WomenInLeadership #DowntownAtlanta #CityPlanning #TheStitch #Atlanta

? Shaping the Skies and Paving New Paths ?? For Women's Month, we’re excited to spotlight Jackie Sweatt-Essick, Environmental Protection Program Manager at the FAA and SCaRP alum. Jackie became the first woman and the first Black woman to join the FAA’s Southern Region as an Environmental Planner—building a program from scratch across multiple states. Her story is a testament to resilience, innovation, and leadership. Read the full interview to learn more about her path and how Georgia Tech’s City and Regional Planning program helped shape her journey. #WomensMonth #WomenInLeadership #SCaRP #GeorgiaTechDesign

??? Join Us for a Social at NPC 2025! ?? Planning professionals, students, and alumni—let’s connect! ?? ?? Hyatt Regency Denver, Mineral Hall B (Level 3) ?? Saturday March 29, 2025 ? 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM Co-hosted by Georgia Planning Association & Georgia Tech School of City & Regional Planning, this is our chance to network, catch up & celebrate our planning community. Don’t miss out! Tag a friend and see you there! ?? #NPC25

Georgia Institute of Technology #economicdevelopment outreach to rural Georgia communities.

#jacketplanner Daniel Hunzaker describes 60-student project at Georgia Planning Association. #cities4all

Great to see #jacketplanners leading Georgia Planning Association !

???CURA Open House is Tomorrow!??? Come see what the?Center for Urban Research and Accessibility (CURA)?is all about! We’re tackling urban challenges with cutting-edge research in: ????Tracking extreme heat and flood risks ????Designing climate-ready infrastructure ???Integrating science, policy, and design for resilient cities ???Date:?March 13 ???Time:?4-6 PM ???Location:?Georgia Institute of Technology - 760 Spring St. Atlanta Stop by to explore our projects, meet the team, and see how we’re building a better future for our cities. Free and open to everyone! #CURA #OpenHouse #UrbanResilience #UrbanAnalytics #ClimateChange #InfrastructurePlanning #GeorgiaTech #GeorgiaTechDesign

???Join Us for an Insightful Guest Lecture! SCaRP invites you to a fascinating lecture by?Scott Markley, PhD, Research Director at the National Zoning Atlas and Visiting Lecturer at Cornell University. ???Topic:?Mapping Uneven Development: City of Atlanta’s Historical Geographies of Housing and Zoning ???Date:?March 13 ???Time:?3-4 PM ???Location:?Arch East 214