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The Atlanta BeltLine is a massive development turning 22 miles of historic railroad corridors circling downtown into a network of parks, trails and transit to link 45 of the city’s neighborhoods. It is among the largest and most wide-ranging urban development and mobility projects in the United States. And it all began with a master’s thesis by a student at Georgia Tech, Ryan Gravel.

Ryan, now a senior urban designer at Perkins+Will in the firm’s Atlanta office, explains how deep community engagement made the BeltLine a reality against all odds on this week’s “Knight Cities.”

Listen to our conversation here. And sign up for the “Knight Cities” newsletter to get alerts as soon as new podcast episodes are posted.

Look for new content posted every Wednesday here. You can follow us on Twitter at KnightCities or @KnightFdn. And if you have ideas for people you’d like to hear more from, please email me.

Carol Coletta is vice president of community and national initiatives at Knight Foundation.