More than 130 government, business, and civic leaders from metro Atlanta will visit the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) region Aug. 20-23 for the Atlanta Regional Commission’s 2025 LINK trip.

LINK participants will explore key issues facing both the Atlanta region and the DMV, such as housing affordability, infrastructure, and managing the growth of data centers that are powering the artificial intelligence boom. During the visit, the LINK delegation will meet with leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with a focus on suburban growth and public-private partnerships.

Participants will explore DMV’s adoption of connected infrastructure and learn how the region has fostered inclusive growth. They will also talk to leaders about the region’s strategic investments in infrastructure, housing, and sustainability that have reinforced the region’s position as a hub for innovation, governance, and global engagement.

Highlights of this year’s LINK trip include:

Visit to Amazon’s ‘HQ2’

The LINK tour will include a guided tour of Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington, Va., an innovative urban campus that features public green space, 14 small businesses, enhanced neighborhood connectivity, and office towers with rooftop gardens, flexible meeting hubs, and wellness offerings.

Tour of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus

Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus is a $1 billion investment in graduate-level tech education and research that has catalyzed the region’s transformation into a growing tech hub. The campus includes an 11-story building dedicated to computer science and engineering, with labs for AI, quantum computing, and robotics.

“Much like Atlanta, the DMV is an innovative, thriving area that offers great insight and inspiration for metro regions across the country. I look forward to having meaningful conversations with DMV leaders about many of the challenges and opportunities that our two communities share and using that collaboration to inform and inspire continued success for our great region,” said Anna Roach, Executive Director & CEO of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

LINK panel discussions will cover a range of issues, including a session on regional stewardship moderated by Andre Dickens, who serves as ARC Board Chairman and Mayor of the City of Atlanta.

Another panel will focus on the impact of AI data centers, which offer increased local tax revenue but have implications for energy and water use as well as on long-term community planning. Northern Virgina is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the country, and metro Atlanta has become one of the fastest-growing markets for the facilities.

Other sessions will cover economic growth, the challenges and opportunities facing suburban cities, serving the unhoused population, and housing affordability strategies for local governments.

In addition to panels, the immersive Mobile LINK Labs offer curated experiences with local leaders and experts from the DMV providing direct insight into innovative projects. Mobile LINK Lab options include:

• Bethesda Urban Partnership – A Public/Private partnership managed mixed-use community with a very large residential component
• Purple Line – A light rail project under construction in Maryland, designed to significantly improve east-west transit connectivity in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area
• Northern Virginia Community College – This community college has built successful programs, supported by state-of-the-art facilities to meet the high demand jobs for the data center industry.
• QTS Data Centers – One of the most advanced and secure data center facilities in the country. It houses essential digital services from Cloud computing and government operations to healthcare and financial systems.
• Equinix – The world’s largest global data center and colocation provider for enterprise network and cloud computing.