Equity in Atlanta #4 | Adaptive Reuse

From railroad to public park, from an airforce base to a region’s leading film studio- what role do adaptive reuse projects play in the economic vitality of a region?

The Atlanta BeltLine is a former rail line that surrounds metro Atlanta in an almost continuous 22-mile loop, crossing through 45 unique neighborhoods. Conceptualized by a former Georgia Tech student, the project is now a massive economic development project that, when finished, will provide 22 miles of multi-use trail for Atlanta residents.

More than just a infrastructure project that brings transportation or public health solutions, the BeltLine is connecting neighborhoods that have been literally divided by its tracks for decades.

Clyde Higgins, interim CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc., believes the project is as much about repairing the spirit of the city as it is about bringing stackable solutions to the communities it touches.

Stackable solutions - housing that is affordable (in the neighborhood you want to live in), public health, workforce development strategies, community involvement, small business access - all integrated systems and pieces of community economic development that the BeltLine aims to bring through its project to the neighborhoods it traverses. Integration and stacking is critical; affordable housing alone, for example, will not be the panacea for community economic development in the surrounding neighborhoods that are changing as quickly as the rail line itself. Partnerships at every level between local non-profits, city and state agencies, and community-based organizations have brought the BeltLine to life and will continue to challenge and support the project as it completes its loop.

Aerotropolis Atlanta (AeroATL) is an airport city initiative that aims to leverage the popularity of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to create a thriving home for aerospace, logistics, bio-life sciences, multimedia production, and food agribusiness clusters. The district already hosts the Porsche Headquarters, Tyler Perry Studios, and McPherson airbase redevelopment with a blueprint to continue investments in the district’s core catalytic sites. The airport-adjacent campus is supported by a Community Improvement District (CID) and three “Collectives” or action committees for workforce development, economic development, and education. The jobs and enthusiasm generated from the campus are already significant, and underscore the theme of partnership and collaboration: the Aerotropolis Alliance includes representation from every municipal, county, and regional entity within its boundaries, as well as major private and non-profit partners. All involved are working toward regional economic development goals.

Equity in Atlanta #3 | Keep it Moving

How can we advance seemingly impossible equitable development initiatives without being tied to political cycles?

In hearing both success stories of economic development projects nationwide and those of failure, a clear trend emerged:

Partnerships and collaboration are no longer optional. Long gone are the game-changing projects that are conceptualized and brought to fruition by a single team in a lone room, and delivered in just a few years.

From flagship real estate projects to workforce development strategies to business recruitment, we saw creative collaborations that are helping projects outlive political cycles and utilizing creative funding streams while making the pie bigger for all involved. Economic development practitioners are collaborating with partners to solve for different policy and tactical solutions that vary based on local and regional regulations. A key tool for housing affordability in New York state, rent regulation, for example, doesn’t exist in Georgia. When considering how new development projects may transpire, multiple partners across sectors need to collaborate to ensure housing affordability tools are incorporated and used. In a similar manner, local advocates are needed to build coalitions that support major development projects across political terms.

Equity in Atlanta #2 | What is Equity, Really?

What is equitable economic development anyway - new buzzword or can I take real action to bring it to my project?

At the foundation of our work at Karp Strategies, we believe that equity and upside go hand in hand. Best defined by the Partnership for Southern Equity, an organization based in Atlanta, economic inclusion is:

“increasing equity in the distribution of income, wealth building, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities for vulnerable populations. In this definition, equity is a step beyond equality because it starts to take into account that people may not start from the same place and, therefore, ‘equal’ treatment may not resolve the gap that exists.”

We heard and shared examples of municipalities, Chambers of Commerce, non-profits, and developers grappling with equitable economic development as it becomes a part of our more mainstream practice and lexicon. How can we bring intention to action in our work? The economic development field is listening, with many practitioners shifting towards more holistic community development that looks at supporting local businesses, building talent pipelines from as early as middle school that lead to skilled jobs, and thinking about making housing affordable. Atlanta-based developer Egbert Perry, for example, asked us to reframe our current definition of affordable housing into “housing that’s affordable in the neighborhood you live or want to live in." Researchers at Georgia Tech posit that timing and proactive planning can be key to mitigating displacement, suggesting that we secure affordable housing up to two years before an economic development project breaks ground. We heard praise for mixed-income housing and a call to redefine the metrics by which we determine the success of equity-driven development beyond jobs, wages, and the number of companies moving to our community.

We left wondering: how well does your project build connections between neighborhoods? How is your initiative or project plugging into or catalyzing public transit networks? What might our communities look like if we brought these concepts to life in our upcoming projects or policies?