Street View Housing Survey and Sentinel 2 Green Space Inventory To Evaluate Gentrification In Atlanta

Amanda D Aragon

Amanda Aragon University of Georgia
Cassandra Johnson Gaither Forest Service – Southern Research Station
Marguerite Madden University of Georgia

15G

Atlanta is among one of the fastest growing cities in the nation with a booming increase in population and urban development. There is a need for sustainable infrastructure that includes environmental, socio-economic, and transportation management features. The partially completed Atlanta BeltLine, a linear greenway, is one such conduit that has already linked in-town communities by providings walking and bicycling access to thousands of businesses and homes. This study focuses on the potential for gentrification of communities near the newly completed Westside segment of the Beltline. One of the first segments of the Beltline, the Eastside trail, was completed in 2014 and has spurred an influx of development, increased property values, and overall gentrification of communities adjacent to the trail. Observers speculate that the Westside segment, completed in 2017, will follow a similar pattern. The Westside segment is located in a still predominantly African American and working-class part of the city. However, the migration of wealthier residents back into the city and the desirability for west Atlanta homes pose concerns for southwest Atlanta residents and the fear of gentrification associated with green space installations. As part of an initial effort to examine changes in housing values that may be attributed to the Westside Beltline, a baseline survey of residential parcels directly adjacent to or within two blocks of the Westside segment was conducted by instructing an Uber driver to systematically tour streets bordering the beltline as researchers visually recorded and quantified the structural conditions of homes. Also, to examine the broader ecological context in which both the Eastside and Westside segments are embedded, we estimated vegetation coverage within one and a half miles of each segment and for the surrounding metropolitan Atlanta area. Sentinel 2 Earth Observation Satellite was used to calculate the percentage of healthy vegetation in and around the area. Combined, the the housing survey and green space inventory provided a baseline to record and compare further impacts the beltline has on both society and the environment.

15:40 Street View Housing Survey and Sentinel 2 Green Space Inventory To Evaluate Gentrification In Atlanta, Amanda D Aragon

January 29 @ 15:40
15:40 — 15:45 (5′)

Quartz AB

Amanda D Aragon

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