City of Atlanta's population hits 472,522 (Jackson: low income, houses, buyers)

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I wonder if Atlanta will ever catch up with/surpass Seattle in city population, someday. They currently have ~700,000 population to Atlanta's ~475,000, but only 83 square miles of land, as opposed to Atlanta's 133.

The larger question, I wonder to what kind of degree Atlanta will become more dense over the decades. I wonder if 50+ years from now, the majority of its land area will still be largely made up of low-density single-family homes with large backyards.

I don't think density is necessarily bad or good, but Atlanta's very low density is certainly different than most cities.

I think it is hardly an apples to apples comparison to look at one city that is hemmed in by mountains and water vs. one that is relatively flat with no barriers for miles in any direction. Seattle will be dense in buildable areas that Atlanta will never be because it doesn't have to be.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I think it is hardly an apples to apples comparison to look at one city that is hemmed in by mountains and water vs. one that is relatively flat with no barriers for miles in any direction. Seattle will be dense in buildable areas that Atlanta will never be because it doesn't have to be.

Absolutely correct.
I didn't say it earlier when this question came up but I can't think of a city that is hardly less likely for Atlanta to pass in population than Seattle in view of the comparative population trends of at least the last 3 decades. That's an exaggeration of course but imho it's not on my radar of "cities to pass" list.
Unless Atlanta has an annexation that would rank as it's largest ever, or Seattle gets hit with the big on (an earthquake), I don't see Atlanta ever passing Seattle in population.
Interestingly enough they were quite similar in size for a few decades but Seattle has really charted upward in absolute population numbers & in city size rank since 1990.

[primaltech]

Yeah, I'm well aware of all that. I'm simply wondering if Atlanta's population will ever catch up to Seattle's population, as in, if Atlanta's density will ever someday increase not to Seattle's level or even near that, but to ~60% of that density level, which would be enough to equal them in city population (since Atlanta is that much geographically larger.)

Both cities' density levels are increasing and will definitely continue to, but I wonder if Atlanta's density will increase more/faster in the long haul. I have no idea though.

Atlanta certainly has a whole lot of its land area where the density is so low that building anything at all (like a standard mid-rise apartment building) would be a massive increase.

[jero23]

Screw that dumb term "elbow room". Atlanta needs to preserve the alleys in the city so that will allow some more transportation infrastructure...

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by jero23

Screw that dumb term "elbow room". Atlanta needs to preserve the alleys in the city so that will allow some more transportation infrastructure...

I think we've long passed the point where that has become infeasible (IIRC, most of the alleys were "abandoned" during Maynard Jackson's first tenure as mayor).

[jero23]

Originally Posted by Gulch

I think we've long passed the point where that has become infeasible (IIRC, most of the alleys were "abandoned" during Maynard Jackson's first tenure as mayor).

Not really, they can still be preserved but the fact that someone with sense needs to try to stop anymore development within the alleys.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by jero23

Not really, they can still be preserved but the fact that someone with sense needs to try to stop anymore development within the alleys.

We don't need to be adding more streets/infrastructure, that serve little purpose, to be maintained by the city.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by cqholt

We don't need to be adding more streets/infrastructure, that serve little purpose, to be maintained by the city.

Alleys can actually be fairly useful, if done correctly for pedestrian and utility access. Make them all pedestrian ways with exceptions for city services, emergency services, and utilities. Maybe even delivery services if wide enough. They don't need to be big, and can even have store entrances and shops along them.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Alleys can actually be fairly useful, if done correctly for pedestrian and utility access. Make them all pedestrian ways with exceptions for city services, emergency services, and utilities. Maybe even delivery services if wide enough. They don't need to be big, and can even have store entrances and shops along them.

Emergency services; will instantly make them at least 10' wide as that is width of modern fire trucks.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Emergency services; will instantly make them at least 10' wide as that is width of modern fire trucks.

And the city can chose to buy smaller vehicles as the industry supplies to many, many parts of the world. San Fran bought some of them, and so could we, if we bothered to try.