Architects Roundtable: Designing with Demographic Insight

Atlanta is growing and changing quickly. As architects, planners, and designers, understanding who we’re building for is just as critical as how we build. This roundtable brings you behind the numbers with Mike Alexander, Chief Operating Officer at the Atlanta Regional Commission, who will unpack the latest data on population shifts, migration patterns, housing needs, and infrastructure demands shaping Metro Atlanta’s trajectory.

More than a numbers game, these insights directly influence the places we shape, from long-range transportation and development priorities to the urgent need for more affordable housing and climate-resilient communities. Whether you work on large-scale developments or community-driven projects, this session will help you connect demographic realities to smarter, more responsive design solutions that meet the needs of a region in motion.

Join us for a dynamic and accessible conversation that helps you design with foresight, because shaping the future starts with understanding it.

Learning objectives

• Participants will be given an overview of the core mission goals of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) through their strategic investments in people, infrastructure, mobility, and preserving natural resources. ARC’s Vision: One Great Region.
• Participants will better understand how collected data provides insights to careful planning and investments which; in turn, fosters healthy, safe, livable communities by improving transportation, cleaner air, secure water supplies, and resilience to extreme weather events.
• Participants will recognize the need to provide more affordable housing to help the 15-county Atlanta region to continue to maintain its livability and economic stability.
• Participants will learn how the long-range Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) sets the vision for metro Atlanta’s transportation needs through 2050, and the short-range Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) allocates federal funds for the highest-priority projects in the region.