Assignment 17: Written Proposal Draft

For this week's assignment, I drafted a written proposal for my capstone project that answered the following questions:

• What is driving your research?

• What is your current essential question? Has it changed from when you wrote it earlier in the school year? 

• Other than the required website, what other tools do you envision to best showcase your project?

• What will you do for your "real inquiry"?

Proposal Draft

I need and want to know how new concepts in city planning, namely mixed use developments, could be used to lessen the impact of gentrification. At first, I wanted to see why gentrification was affecting low income areas, but now my interest has spread to middle class areas as well. In many suburbs, new mixed developments target a more affluent class of upper-middle class residents, who have been pushing out the working class. In much of metro Atlanta, especially north of the city, there has been a demographic shift because of that reason. 
My essential is as follows:

How can up and coming planners like me design and develop mixed use communities without having to restructure existing living spaces or facilitate gentrification?

I did not tweak my essential question too much. I did replace the word “walkable” with the phrase “mixed use.” Currently, there is an emphasis on mixed use projects in the planning world, and they are also the types of developments that lead to the heaviest amount of gentrification, as they attract affluent residents who want to live in a one-stop environment. However, these communities still fall under the walkable umbrella, so my essential question is not that different from what it originally was.
I think the best way to showcase my project will be an interactive model that is digital. By using mapping software, or just simple graphics tools, I can create different overlays to highlight the relationship between mixed use developments and gentrification. Additionally, I can tape a video including candid interviews of people and their understanding or thoughts about gentrification in different concepts. I think by doing this, I can bring my essential question into a more relatable context, especially because mixed use developments and gentrification are two topics that the majority of people are likely not familiar with.
For my real inquiry, I am lucky to be working in a city that is currently undergoing a huge wave of mixed use development. I can use this resource as an advantage. I have already interview the Zoning Administrator, Brian, so I can utilize his interview in my real inquiry. Additionally, there are plenty of old site plans, land use plans, and maps available of the City of Alpharetta. Finally, the city has access to substantial GIS software, which I can use to my advantage to construct digital maps and models that display the trend of mix use developments and compare them to demographic shifts in the area.

Yasamin, 1/19