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Most of metro Atlanta is a carpet of sprawl, where anyone who can't drive a car to destinations is screwed.
I don't care that some folks prefer this lifestyle. The domination of this design has too many bad consequences for society. The system that produces this must be changed.
I don't care that some folks prefer this lifestyle. The domination of this design has too many bad consequences for society. The system that produces this must be changed.
A 1952 Atlanta regional plan supported the development of a low-density, car-oriented design. This image comes from that plan. It shows a neighborhood design that keeps uses detached (single-family homes all in one place, commercial properties located elsewhere).
That "Up Ahead" plan informed the growth of metro Atlanta. Zoning laws were used to prevent any other type of format, prohibiting mixed-use buildings, duplexes, or even small stores from invading the sanctuary of detached-home districts.
Up Ahead, 1952:
https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/45672
Up Ahead, 1952:
https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/45672
Simultaneously, racism helped inform who was able to live in Atlanta's sprawling suburbia thanks to legal forms of mortgage discrimination that made it easier for whites to purchase new homes. https://medium.com/@daringivens/atlantas-patterns-of-segregation-and-where-they-originated-2b13b89092af
Freeways became the arteries that connected sprawling places to jobs, while also dividing us by race. Urban design practices from the 20th century constituted a war on inclusiveness, on transit, & on urban density.
Read about Atlanta's War on Density: https://www.atlantastudies.org/2016/02/03/atlantas-war-on-density/
Read about Atlanta's War on Density: https://www.atlantastudies.org/2016/02/03/atlantas-war-on-density/
We’re still building greenfield sprawl in the Atlanta region, destroying forests and creating car-dependent developments far from transit.
https://atlurbanist.tumblr.com/post/183425278499/were-still-building-greenfield-sprawl-in-the
We've got to get regional leaders on board with ending sprawl and creating more compact, walkable places.
https://atlurbanist.tumblr.com/post/183425278499/were-still-building-greenfield-sprawl-in-the
We've got to get regional leaders on board with ending sprawl and creating more compact, walkable places.
Sprawl makes us unsafe. Compact Stockholm and Tokyo have the lowest traffic fatality rates in the world—fewer than 1.5 deaths per 100k residents. Atlanta, on the other hand, has a death rate six times that, at nine fatalities per 100k residents.
Source: https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/07/7-proven-principles-designing-safer-city
Source: https://www.wri.org/blog/2015/07/7-proven-principles-designing-safer-city
Sprawl hurts lower-income people. Metro Atlanta ranks high when it comes to the growth of suburban poverty growth, where less than half of suburban poor have access to transit. The built environment of sprawl is hard to serve with buses. https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/atlanta-no-4-for-suburban-poverty-growth/
Sprawl destroys natural ecosystems & the connectivity they need to thrive. The Piedmont region has been ravaged by it.
Check out this time lapse of the northern part of Metro Atlanta, 1984-2018. Watch the greenery disappear. It's still disappearing.
https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=33.97143,-84.34884,9.174,latLng&t=1.32
Check out this time lapse of the northern part of Metro Atlanta, 1984-2018. Watch the greenery disappear. It's still disappearing.
https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=33.97143,-84.34884,9.174,latLng&t=1.32
