How can suburban Alpharetta, Georgia be revamped along specific corridors at the human scale to increase walkability and connectivity?
Disciplines
Architecture | Urban, Community and Regional Planning
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Many cities in the United States are designed based on suburban sprawl, which contributes to excessive automobile-dependency and unwelcoming streets for pedestrians, and metro Atlanta is no exception. Alpharetta, Georgia is consisted of a downtown hub, commercial corridors, office districts, and suburbs. Many of these areas are disconnected and difficult to traverse on foot, thus encouraging residents to drive rather than walk. Many streets outside of the downtown hub are designed to serve cars, leading to an unwelcoming and unsafe environment for pedestrians. Suburban retrofitting is a design tactic that ranges from the urban scale to the human scale. The human scale focuses street redesign strategies on pedestrian wellbeing, which will be useful to increase walkability and connectivity in Alpharetta. This design thesis aims to take this a step further by devising a pedestrian “loop” that expands upon the existing greenway and connects nodes across the city. Architectural installations will be strategically designed along the loop to create destinations and support the surrounding community. The loop will be implemented on specific corridors to significantly improve pedestrian access on roads that are car oriented. By refocusing suburbia on pedestrians rather than cars, overall pedestrian wellbeing will be improved. Qualitative research will inform the design. Data will be collected through observations, mapping techniques, and case study analyses. Additionally, research of WELL Building Standards and biophilia will inform design decisions to focus on pedestrian wellbeing. Field observations and map analyses will enhance on-site familiarity. Site analysis is crucial to determine what areas the pedestrian loop and architecture will focus on. Precedent analyses will be useful to understand how urban and architectural installations are used to create iconic pedestrian havens within cities, such as The Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts, the Beltline in Atlanta, Georgia, and La Villette in Paris, France.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CACM - Architecture
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Robin Puttock
24" x 36" Poster - Annikka Fairfield Thesis Research
How can suburban Alpharetta, Georgia be revamped along specific corridors at the human scale to increase walkability and connectivity?
Many cities in the United States are designed based on suburban sprawl, which contributes to excessive automobile-dependency and unwelcoming streets for pedestrians, and metro Atlanta is no exception. Alpharetta, Georgia is consisted of a downtown hub, commercial corridors, office districts, and suburbs. Many of these areas are disconnected and difficult to traverse on foot, thus encouraging residents to drive rather than walk. Many streets outside of the downtown hub are designed to serve cars, leading to an unwelcoming and unsafe environment for pedestrians. Suburban retrofitting is a design tactic that ranges from the urban scale to the human scale. The human scale focuses street redesign strategies on pedestrian wellbeing, which will be useful to increase walkability and connectivity in Alpharetta. This design thesis aims to take this a step further by devising a pedestrian “loop” that expands upon the existing greenway and connects nodes across the city. Architectural installations will be strategically designed along the loop to create destinations and support the surrounding community. The loop will be implemented on specific corridors to significantly improve pedestrian access on roads that are car oriented. By refocusing suburbia on pedestrians rather than cars, overall pedestrian wellbeing will be improved. Qualitative research will inform the design. Data will be collected through observations, mapping techniques, and case study analyses. Additionally, research of WELL Building Standards and biophilia will inform design decisions to focus on pedestrian wellbeing. Field observations and map analyses will enhance on-site familiarity. Site analysis is crucial to determine what areas the pedestrian loop and architecture will focus on. Precedent analyses will be useful to understand how urban and architectural installations are used to create iconic pedestrian havens within cities, such as The Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts, the Beltline in Atlanta, Georgia, and La Villette in Paris, France.