The Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) is launching an 18-month initiative called The Ford Urbanite Atlanta Mobility Challenge, which looks to empower community members around Atlanta to have an active role in developing their communities to overcome mobility challenges instead of development just happening “to” them.
The initiative is offering up to $150,000 for winning ideas. The PSE is looking for idea submissions from anyone, not just those who already work in this space.
Sterling Johnson, director of the Partnership for Southern Equity’s Just Opportunity Portfolio, said the effort is part of the organization’s underlying work.
“It’s a departure from how we historically see development happen, where we see things just happen to people, but they don’t really get how to engage with it or get benefits from it because of displacement and things that occur,” Johnson said. “The Urbanite Challenge is really an extension of that — this idea that we have very unique challenges around our transportation infrastructure… [and] figuring out ways, in accordance with all this development that’s happening, that we can solve for that kind of challenge.”
As the nation’s sixth largest metro area, Atlanta has no shortage of transit issues, with a less than extensive transit system in MARTA and extensive traffic congestion. While the city has been improving, it has a long way to go in developing trails and bike lines that welcome alternative transit to cars and comfortable spaces for pedestrians.
Many of the mobility and transportation issues stem back to the sprawled nature of Atlanta; thirteen counties are recognized by the Atlanta Regional Commission to make up the metro Atlanta region that holds nearly 6.5 million people, most of whom must drive to get around on a regular basis. All the more reason for a mobility initiative from the people experiencing the challenges of this themselves, Johnson said.
Although the…
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