The first processing project funded by the National Historical Publication and Records Commission (NHPRC), the Atlanta Department of City Planning records, MSS 1268, has been completed and is available to researchers in the Kenan Research Center. The collection contains meeting minutes from Atlanta’s Department of City Planning, which oversees Atlanta’s housing, buildings, design, and zoning. These minutes document public opinion about city development, growth, and gentrification as well as research into city decisions, financial and project planning, ordinance proposals, and finalized legislation. Researchers can use the collection to learn about city policy regarding land use in different neighborhoods, what Atlantans thought about these decisions, and how some, usually Black Atlantans, suffered under government policy while others, usually white Atlantans, benefited.

For some background on the records, in 1920, Mayor James L. Key (1837–1939) introduced a proposal that resulted in the creation of the Department of Planning Commission. In 1952, Atlanta and Fulton County consolidated their planning departments to create the Department of Municipal Planning. The department changed its name in 1957 to the Department of Planning, in 1974 to the Department of Budget and Planning, in 1982 to the Department of Community Development, and in 2003 to the Department of Planning and Development.

As of 2017, the department became the Department of City Planning. It includes an Office of the Commissioner, Office of Design, Office of Housing and Community Development, Office of Buildings, Office of Zoning and Development, and Neighborhood Planning Units.

The Department of City Planning records is organized into four series:

• Series I: Atlanta-Fulton County Joint…