At the recent Georgia Planning Association conference on Jekyll Island, School of City and Regional Planning students Garrett Hyer (left) and Gillam Campbell (right) accepted Outstanding Student Project Awards on behalf of their studios. Hyer participated in the Northside Drive as a Multimodal Developmental Corridor: Transformation from Utilitarian Auto Route to Grand Transit Boulevard studio and Campbell participated in the Tracking the Effects of Sea Level Rise in Georgia's Coastal Communities studio.  

Hyer's studio, supervised by Professor Mike Dobbins, explored ways to transform Northside Drive from a dismal, underperforming corridor that frames the west side of the Atlanta core into a grand transit boulevard. Planned and developed properly, the transformation will break down Northside’s historic race and class divide to become a great urban street whose assets and attractions provide a common ground for sharing the strengths of diverse populations.

Campbell's studio, supervised by Larry Keating, investigated potential impacts and adaptation opportunities of sea level rise for three counties along the Georgia coast: Chatham, Liberty, and McIntosh. This study region spans 1,378 square miles of the Georgia and contains a population of 334,099.

"We are honored that the GPA selected these studios for their Outstanding Student Project award," said Bruce Stiftel, chair of the School of City and Regional Planning. "These projects illustrate the breadth of what we do here in the School, and both will have a real impact on the communities they are a part of. I commend the students for all of their hard work."

The outstanding student project awards are selected based upon a partnership between the GPA and the Michigan APA chapter. Georgia award nominations were sent to the Michigan chapter awards committee where they were reviewed and assessed. The Michigan APA chapter then makes recommendations to the Georgia chapter awards committee which in turn makes recommendations to the Michigan chapter awards committee on student projects in the Great Lake state. Any questions are clarified in a final conference call and the awards are then announced.

Northside Drive Studio Team: Anders, Joel; Bedward, Tanya; Brodie, Stefanie; Cardoni, Lauren; Carragher, Margaret; Cox, Rachel; Gooze, Aaron; Hyer, Garrett; Ingles, Amy; Kalinke, Lydia; Levin, Josh; McColley, Sarah; Phillips, Eric; Reed, Landon; Wong, James; Zhang, Wenwen; Alhadeff, Daniel; Ward, Elizabeth + Guanying Li (Graduate Research Assistant) Sea Level Rise Studio Team: Campbell, Gillam; Clermont, Marvin; Colberg, Kathry ; Gosman, Richelle; Harkness, Anna Rose; Moore Hugens, Amy; Lorenc, Paul; Nguyen, Dzung; Yun, Jennifer; Zhou, Joy + Dana Habeeb (Co-instructor)