Bloustein-led proposal, THE STROLL @Midtown Core, creates new residential, commercial character for Atlanta Midtown South neighborhood

February 18, 2016

Team161618_SitePlanTeams of five students from universities around the country compete for a prestigious award and a $50,000 prize at the annual Urban Land Institute/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competi­tion. This year, a group of four Bloustein students, Mallory Clark, Patrick Clark, Roman Titov and Ai Yamanaka, and Rutgers Business School student Kristin Decker, entered the competition to bring their original ideas to the national stage.

The Hines competition is based on ingenuity and creativity in a limited time frame. Each year a new neighborhood, in different cities around the county, is chosen for the competition. The teams are tasked with creating a comprehensive redevelopment plan that includes drawings, real-world financial analysis and a site plan. The competition calls itself an “ideas competition;” there is no expectation that any of the submitted schemes will be applied to the site, but rather to see creative solutions to real-world problems. Once ULI releases the current year’s competition neighborhood, competing teams then have just two weeks to submit their plan.

This year’s selection was an area in Atlanta’s Midtown South neighborhood. The Bloustein proposal was named “The Stroll,” and focuses on new neighborhood connectivity while retaining a historic feel. According to the proposal, “‘The Stroll’ [would provide] people with pedestrian and bicyclist access to nearby shops and amenities serving to increase street livability and decrease vehicular use.”

“The Stroll” features grand pedestrian boulevards, emphasizes the neighborhood MARTA station, installs a traffic-calming fountain at the major intersection of Peachtree and Ponce de Leon, creates new, central green spaces, and establishes several shared streets.

In addition to changes in the transportation infrastructure, “The Stroll” creates a new residential and commercial character for the neighborhood. In the financial analysis the team included new high-density and affordable housing units, a hotel, a senior-care center, daycare center, and a health and wellness facility.

Throughout all of the design proposals, new and cutting-edge sustainability features were incorporated, such as permeable pavement and new storm water management systems.

In February, the jury will select four student teams as finalists. These teams are then requested to expand their proposal and present it to the jury in Atlanta. This year, applications were submitted from 140 teams representing 59 universities in the United States and Canada. Included are 700 participating students, 141 academic advisors, and 41 professional advisors. Since the first competition was held in 2003, over 6,700 students on over 1,100 teams have participated, representing schools in the U.S. and Canada.

Though still waiting to hear whether their proposal has made it to the next round of the competition, the students are proud of their work and have printed out their site plans to hang around the Bloustein student lounge.

Recent Posts

Healthcare, Policy, and the Opioid Crisis: Bridging Gaps in Access

Healthcare, Policy, and the Opioid Crisis: Bridging Gaps in Access with Zoe Lindenfeld This week on EJB Talks, new Bloustein School Assistant Professor Zoe Lindenfeld talks to Dean Stuart Shapiro about her research on substance use disorders, particularly the opioid...

Public Policy and Surveillance Tech

By Marc Pfeiffer ICMA.org, February 1, 2025 I asked Claude.ai to define surveillance technology. In response, it replied, “devices, systems, or software that are used to monitor, track, and collect information on people, places, or things.” Municipalities use a wide...

Lindenfeld & Mauri Find Uptick for MOUD at FQHCs

Introduction To reduce morbidity and mortality among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), the evidence is strongest for medications for OUD (MOUD), which include methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are essential...

NJSPL: Ensuring Accurate & Equitable Vaccination Info

By Yonaira Rivera and Vivek Singh  In today’s digital world, large language models like ChatGPT are important sources of healthcare information, particularly for those who face barriers like insurance issues or language constraints. As part of the IMPACT-NJ project,...

2025 IHC Grant Program Funding Opportunities

The New Jersey Inclusive Healthy Communities (IHC) grant program has announced its latest Request for Proposals (RFP) for grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations to advance policy and systems change through the inclusion of people with disabilities to...

Upcoming Events

Event Series CAREERS

Virtual Career Drop-ins

Virtual

Stop by virtually on Mondays (except for holidays) beginning February 3 through April 28 between 11 am and 1 pm to ask a quick (15 min) career-related question of Bloustein […]