UDP collaborated with the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) to assess local dynamics around gentrification, displacement, and exclusion in Atlanta, in close collaboration with local partners. We hope that the resulting map of our neighborhood change typology will empower Atlanta communities to better understand their trajectories and stabilize their resident population.
When UDP met with stakeholders in Atlanta, they expressed that the BeltLine (a multi-use trail built on a former railway corridor) has introduced new risk of “green gentrification,” or the displacement pressures created by public investment in parks, trails, and other urban greening projects. Local advocates for equitable development voiced concerns about the health and access to opportunity of households displaced to transit-poor Atlanta suburbs and other “receiving communities” of displacement in the region. They also noted that residents are experiencing a growing loss of political power and sense of belonging through “civic displacement,” and that developments led by politically powerful corporations are actively impacting Atlanta’s at-risk communities of color.
The UDP research team is especially grateful to our research partners at the Atlanta Regional Commission, regional partners at the TransFormation Alliance, and to all of the Atlanta SPARCC affiliate organizations listed below.