The purpose of the research was to conduct a study of the impact of gentrification on the Metropolitan Atlanta area. This research focused on the policies that influenced or affected recipient communities because of gentrification. These changes are attributed to residents relocating from various sections of a transitioned community to another community. Available research, however, does not fully address the new challenges recipient communities face because of a boost in its population. Current research does not fully address the pressure on recipient communities’ resources due to (possible) lack of housing, schools, transportation, and social services because of an influx of citizens; nor does the current research fully address an overall strategy to sustainable community and economic development for recipient communities.

Over the past two decades, the Atlanta metropolitan region has seen a large increase in its immigrant population, particularly in the city's northern suburbs situated in Gwinnett County around the famously multi-ethnic Buford Highway corridor. The suburbs of Norcross and Duluth have experienced a particularly large influx of immigrants from Asia and Central and South America. Once predominantly white bedroom communities, the cities' racial and ethnic make-up are now heavily defined by their Asian and Hispanic populations. Many residents and business owners are foreign-born or second-generation immigrants, and the number is growing. Despite this significant demographic shift, little attention has been paid to how multiculturalism fits into the planning process and how they are affected by local planning procedures and priorities. The cultural and linguistic divides found in Atlanta's continuously-diversifying social landscape remain largely unexplored and unaddressed in conventional planning practices. This research looks at demographic data and planning initiatives in Gwinnett County, and the cities of Duluth and Norcross in particular, to determine the extent that Asian and Hispanic populations are represented and involved in the planning process. An examination of public participation and community involvement in issues relating to land use, housing, and transportation is used to assess the degree of inclusion in planning and measure the extent to which increased cultural diversity is addressed in the region and in the two cities. I will argue that if the Asian and Hispanic populations are not engaged in planning processes and if their needs are not accounted for in city plans, there could be a resulting negative impact on those populations and the city in which they live.

Twentieth Century Americans witnessed the construction of numerous massive dams that controlled the flow of rivers across the country. Many of these dams were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve navigation and to provide inexpensive electricity and flood control. This paper will seek to shed light on Georgia’s current water crisis by analyzing the initial purposes behind the building of Buford Dam in North Georgia, investigating how water supply issues were addressed in the first half of the twentieth century, and exploring how expectations of the Chattahoochee River changed over time due in part to metropolitan Atlanta’s population growth. This paper will show that Atlanta area leaders secured appropriations for Buford Dam primarily to obtain a reliable water supply and additional electricity for their burgeoning community.

This thesis conducts a case study of how MARTA could address climate change adaptation through its transit asset management program. Two climate-modeling approaches are utilized to project potential future climate scenarios within MARTA's service area to identify significant climate stressors. These climate stressors are used to help identify vulnerable assets, operations, and locations in the MARTA system through several interviews conducted with key MARTA staff. The results of this basic climate vulnerability assessment are used to develop a series of short-term and long-term adaptation strategies that address these vulnerabilities. Next, a framework is proposed for addressing climate adaptation through MARTA's existing asset management program. Finally, the thesis proposes a general framework that other transit agencies could utilize to address climate adaptation through their asset management programs. The results of the climate vulnerability assessment indicate that the MARTA service area is likely to experience longer exposure to higher temperatures, flooding, wider variations in temperature, droughts, and more frequent high-wind events. Of these stressors, the MARTA system is most vulnerable to the effects of extreme and prolonged heat as well as flooding caused by intense precipitation events. Adaptation strategies to address these vulnerabilities include more frequent inspection of HVAC systems on buses and rail vehicles, increasing pumping capacity at underground rail stations, and incorporating low-impact developments into surrounded station areas. The limitations of the results of this case study and areas for further research from these limitations are also presented.

Particles reduce visibility, change climate, and affect human health. In 1997, the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 mm) was promulgated. The annual mean PM2.5 mass concentrations in Atlanta, Georgia exceed the standard, and control is needed. The first goal of this study is to develop the control strategies of PM2.5 in Atlanta, Georgia. Based on the statistical analysis of measured data, from 22% to 40% of emission reductions are required to meet the NAAQS at 95% CI. The estimated control levels can be tested using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to better assess if the proposed levels will achieve sufficient reduction in PM2.5. The second goal of this study is to analyze various uncertainties residing in CMAQ. For the model to be used in such applications with confidence, it needs to be evaluated. The model performance is calculated by the relative agreement between volume-averaged predictions and point measurements. Up to 14% of the model error for PM2.5 mass is due to the different spatial scales of the two values. CMAQ predicts PM2.5 mass concentrations reasonably well, but CMAQ significantly underestimates PM2.5 number concentrations. Causes of the underestimation include that assumed inaccurate particle density and particle size of the primary emissions in CMAQ, in addition to the expression of the particle size with three lognormal distributions. Also, the strength and limitations of CMAQ in performing PM2.5 source apportionment are compared with those of the Chemical Mass Balance with Molecular Markers. Finally, the accuracy of emissions, one of the important inputs of CMAQ, is evaluated by the inverse modeling. Results show that base level emissions for CO and SO2 sources are relatively accurate, whereas NH3, NOx, PEC and PMFINE emissions are overestimated. The emission adjustment for POA and VOC emissions is significantly different among regions.

The aim of this thesis is to help understand the impact of street network configuration on travel behavior by modeling pedestrian travel to/from rapid transit rail stations. The primary goal is to determine whether and to what extent street connectivity is related to transit walk-mode shares and walking distances after controlling for population density, land-use mix, household income, and car ownership. The data are drawn from all the stations of Atlanta's rapid transit network (MARTA). The research shows that land-use mix and street connectivity around stations are significantly related to the decision to walk for transit. Importantly, the analysis reveals that station environments with higher street densities and more direct connections within 1, 0.5, and 0.25 mile radii are associated with higher proportion of walking shares among station patrons. Furthermore, the results of analyses for walk trip distances suggest that street networks with denser intersections and more linear alignments of road segments support greater walking distance thresholds. Overall, the findings confirm the hypotheses that well structured and differentiated street networks affect not only transit access/egress walk-mode shares but also the distance people are willing to walk to/from a station. Thus, this study provides some encouragement that effective policies designed to encourage new designs with the option to walk will actually support more sustainable cities in which transit systems can become integrated within urban culture.

The rise of women’s volunteer organizations can be linked to the social changes that the United States was undergoing during the Progressive Era. The movement from an agrarian society to an industrial one, massive migration of Americans from rural areas to the cities, and increased immigration all contributed to social challenges in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Recently historians have begun to explore how women’s contributions helped to combat these challenges and this study shows how women’s clubs in Georgia were able to exercise their philanthropic power through their involvement in education. By 1860, the women’s club movement was well underway in the United States, with most of the activity in the Northeast, Midwest, and the West. The South, due to the devastation of the Civil War, did not see an emergence of women’s clubs until 1890. Southern middle class white women felt compelled to help those they perceived as less fortunate at a time when they themselves were trying to establish their own placement within the social structure of the Progressive Era South. Women, due to changing societal roles, were beginning to move beyond the home. They began to use the expertise they acquired through managing a household and applied this knowledge to social programs that would help those in need. Often times these social programs were focused on the education of young children and women. Women’s clubs in Georgia provide a lens for exploring how women were able to influence educational developments during the Progressive Era. Archival data show that the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Atlanta Woman’s Club, and the Athens Woman’s Club played in important role in educational advancements in Georgia during the Progressive Era. Archival and primary source materials were used to support an analysis of gender, social class, and geographic differences on women’s roles in educational changes. This study analyzes how women were able to affect education in Georgia at a time when men dominated educational decision-making.

The study examines the formation and development of Chinese American populations in Augusta, Savannah, and Atlanta, Georgia from the beginnings of Chinese Exclusion period through the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. Although people of Chinese ancestry were in an ambiguous position upon their arrival in the 1880s within the black-white dyad that defined southern race relations, they were able to negotiate this system, transforming themselves from being perceived as “outsiders” before the 1940s to being treated as “honorary whites” by the late 1960s. To explore this transition, this project analyzes generational differences between immigrants and their children. Before the 1920s, the mostly Chinese immigrant male population concerned themselves with establishing viable businesses for sending remittances back to family in China and creating social institutions that helped the men cope with decades of separation from their families. The men avoided possible conflict with Jim Crow by having their businesses and residences in black or immigrant areas. Some men cultivated better relations with whites by attending Sunday schools that catered to Chinese immigrants. The mutation from “outsider” to “honorary white” status began when prosperous Chinese men started sending for wives to join them in the 1910s, thus ushering in a new pattern of planned long-term settlement in the state. Families successfully challenged the older perception by joining white churches, enrolling their children in white schools, and building social ties with white community leaders. Second generation Chinese Americans reaped the benefits of this strategy in the 1950s and 1960s by gaining access to housing in white neighborhoods, employment opportunities in white-collar occupations, and acceptance as partners in marriages with European Americans.

Background and Purpose Low socioeconomic status (SES) populations as well as minorities are often exposed to a disproportionate number of hazardous chemical including hydrogen fluoride, benzene and formaldehyde (Bullard, 2008). The sources of these hazards may include noxious land uses such as incinerators and landfills, Superfund sites, Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, sewer and water treatment plants, and other locally unwanted land uses (Choi, Shim, Kaye, & Ryan, 2006). The disproportionate burden often results in increased exposure to harmful environmental conditions for affected communities (Wilson et al., 2014). The objectives of this study are to evaluate the relevance of demographic characteristics to (1) TRI facility location, (2) TRI chemical emissions, and (3) incidence and resolution of facility complaints. Methods The study area is the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget is comprised of 20 counties. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the relative importance of race and socioeconomic variables in predicting whether a TRI facility was located in a census tract. We applied multiple regression models to examine the association between amount of air toxics released from TRI facilities in the census tract (dependent variable), the number of emissions from TRI facilities in the census tract and the amount of chemicals released per emission and socio-demographic variables at the census tract level. Additionally, multivariate ordinal logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between the number of complaints to toxic chemicals and time to resolution of complaints and the covariates (SES and race/ethnicity) at the census tract level. Results In multivariate models the odds ratio for the presence of a TRI facility is 0.89 (p=0.002) for each 1% increase of females with a college degree and 2.4 (p Discussion and Conclusion We found evidence of racial and socio-demographic disparities in the burden of TRI facilities and chemical emissions in the Atlanta MSA. We observed a trend for toxic chemicals emitted suggesting that more blacks and Hispanics were burdened by and potentially exposed to TRI facilities than were Whites. There was only one predictor, percentage of females with a college degree, where we observed an inverse and statistically significant association with the amount of chemical emissions in pounds. We also found evidence that of potential differences in regulation processes of TRI facilities. Overall, results indicate that race/ethnicity and socioeconomic composition play a role in TRI facility siting and TRI facility emissions indicating burden disparities for low-SES populations as well as non-Whites in the Atlanta MSA. These results are similar to results presented in the environmental justice literature.

The study examines the formation and development of Chinese American populations in Augusta, Savannah, and Atlanta, Georgia from the beginnings of Chinese Exclusion period through the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. Although people of Chinese ancestry were in an ambiguous position upon their arrival in the 1880s within the black-white dyad that defined southern race relations, they were able to negotiate this system, transforming themselves from being perceived as “outsiders” before the 1940s to being treated as “honorary whites” by the late 1960s. To explore this transition, this project analyzes generational differences between immigrants and their children. Before the 1920s, the mostly Chinese immigrant male population concerned themselves with establishing viable businesses for sending remittances back to family in China and creating social institutions that helped the men cope with decades of separation from their families. The men avoided possible conflict with Jim Crow by having their businesses and residences in black or immigrant areas. Some men cultivated better relations with whites by attending Sunday schools that catered to Chinese immigrants. The mutation from “outsider” to “honorary white” status began when prosperous Chinese men started sending for wives to join them in the 1910s, thus ushering in a new pattern of planned long-term settlement in the state. Families successfully challenged the older perception by joining white churches, enrolling their children in white schools, and building social ties with white community leaders. Second generation Chinese Americans reaped the benefits of this strategy in the 1950s and 1960s by gaining access to housing in white neighborhoods, employment opportunities in white-collar occupations, and acceptance as partners in marriages with European Americans.