Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) and Emory University won a Golden Shoe Award from Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDS) for creating an ongoing venue for multi-disciplinary discussions and research on the relationship between health and the built environment through the Healthy Places Research Group.

PEDS is a member-based advocacy organization dedicated to making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians. When PEDS was founded in 1996, pedestrians were not yet on metro Atlanta's radar screen. Government agencies identified transportation safety exclusively with occupant safety, engineers lacked information about the needs of pedestrians, police officers ticketed crosswalk law violators only after someone had been hit, and media attention to pedestrians was limited to one-inch blurbs following fatal crashes. Worst of all, people rarely thought of themselves as pedestrians. Because of PEDS' efforts, all that is changing.

The Healthy Places Research Group (HPRG) is a collaborative effort involving Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, Georgia Tech's College of Architecture, and CQGRD. It also involves professionals from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers, students, and others interested in exploring the co-relationship between the built environment and the health of communities.

The HPRG meets once a month to discuss issues and exchange information pertaining to health policy and impacts. Participation is open to anyone interested in exploring the characteristics and advancement of healthy places.

The Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD) helps society achieve a sustainable, equitable, superior quality of life through sound planning, policy, and design. The Center's mission is to produce, disseminate, and help implement new ideas and technologies that improve the theory and practice of quality growth. The HPRG is just one example of how the Center is working to fulfill its mission.