Town Planning & Design with Equitable Outcomes

Last month, Bill de St. Aubin presented for the Knoxville American Planning Association’s (KAPA) virtual meeting on the subject of equitable development, a topic with which we, at Sizemore Group, have extensive experience.The use of community engagement and land use decisions to promote equitable communities — also known as equitable development – is increasingly considered to be an effective plan of action. It is a method of offering innovative policies and programs to meet the needs, reduce disparities and grow equity in underserved communities while simultaneously fostering vibrant and healthy  living spaces.

Click here to watch Bill’s full presentation.

Bill presented three case studies illustrating equitable development:

Smyrna, Georgia: Urban Land Institute (ULI) national award winning town plan

• Priorities include:
  • Converting public land to local home ownership
  • Townhomes over retail- the missing middle from the 90’s
  • Jobs to housing balance

City of Atlanta: Redevelopment of the Atlanta BeltLine area

• Priorities include:
  • Equity and inclusionary zoning
  • Affordable housing density
  • Public investments in shared storm retention to spur redevelopment

College Park, GA: Six West Development, a 350 Acre $1.5B mixed-use project connected to the world’s busiest airport

• Priorities include:
  • Global destination rooted in inclusivity and equity
  • Eco-friendly design
  • Incremental district to enhance local ownership & equity

Bill also suggested methods of remediating equitable challenges, such as:

• P-3 Public Land to Equitable Opportunity
  • City of Smyrna Town Center
    • Land Equity
    • Shared Retention
• Equitable Capacity Building
  • Combatting the “Missing Middle”
    • City of Smyrna Town Center
    • Atlanta BeltLine Columbia Properties
• Equitable Incremental Development Districts
  • City of College Park Six West
    • Regional Retention
    • Displaced Investors
    • Walkable TOD Main Street