Investigating Settler Colonialism in Atlanta’s Housing Policy: Problematizing Gentrification and Mapping Oppositional Knowledge

Atlanta is a microcosm for land domination, which is the ongoing process of settler colonialism including gentrification, redlining, deed-restrictions, and urban renewal initiatives that disproportionately affect historically oppressed communities to the benefit of the ruling class. The purpose of this case study is to identify the process of land domination within former service neighborhoods and historically Black communities of Atlanta and place it within the context of Atlanta housing policy. This thesis applies oppositional knowledge to Atlanta housing jurisprudence and further through the use of ArcGIS technology, oral histories are merged across mapped landscapes to demonstrate visually how land power evolves and is propagated. This thesis will show how sudden investment in communities after long term neglect of land and residents is often disruptive/destructive when input of the effected community is not sought and there is no conscious/serious attempt to mitigate past neglect.