The Atlanta Beltline responds to demand for an enriched urban experience (Millen: 2014, crime)

[LynnHarris]

"Editor's Note: The following is a Q&A with Ambrish Baisiwala, CEO of Portman Holdings. It was written by Joshua Gately, a development analyst with Portman Holdings.

I live in Midtown and take MARTA to our downtown office.

As a native Atlanta Millennial, I am interested in what Atlanta is doing to improve the urban landscape and quality of life for others who have moved back into the city..."

Full Story: The Atlanta Beltline responds to demand for an enriched urban experience - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[netdragon]

This whole "millenial" designation is getting out of hand. I'm technically a millennial too, but people my age never used the word millenial. We were gen Y or whatever.

[ATLTJL]

The big irony is that by the time we adequately respond to what millenials want, they will be at different stations in life and want something different...

So the big questions is, what will Generation Z want?

[netdragon]

Well, my feeling is that there is a general re-urbanization trend. It has nothing to do with millenials per-se (in fact, many are baby boomers) and it has nothing to do with the city limits of Atlanta. It has to do with core metro areas around the country - basically everything built in more or less the 1950s and earlier which tends to be a bit denser than what came later.

[AtlantaComment]

Agreed, I think the millennial thing is overrated.

The national reurbanization trend has a lot more to do with gas/energy prices, the overall economy, age of marriage, decline of urban crime, and the limits to sprawl than any vague generational preference.

Quite simply, the suburbs made a lot more sense 30 years ago than they do today. When gas was $1.20/gallon and Atlanta was still seeing 200+ murders per year the suburbs were the rational and almost automatic choice. This is no longer the case.

[Tryska]

Actually - don't underestimate them. Population size of Millenials is about the Population size of Baby Boomers.

Us Gen Xers stuck in the middle (with a comparitively small population) are forever basking in the shadows of these giants..slacking to gomorrah.

[JPD]

Let's all just admit that we want our cities to be more like the cities of Europe.

[ATLJR]

Originally Posted by AtlantaComment

Agreed, I think the millennial thing is overrated.

The national reurbanization trend has a lot more to do with gas/energy prices, the overall economy, age of marriage, decline of urban crime, and the limits to sprawl than any vague generational preference.

Quite simply, the suburbs made a lot more sense 30 years ago than they do today. When gas was $1.20/gallon and Atlanta was still seeing 200+ murders per year the suburbs were the rational and almost automatic choice. This is no longer the case.

I disagree. Not to say there aren't a lot of factors, there certainly are, but there is definitely different priorities and preferences among different generations. My peers, and my younger sister's peers, place an increased priority on living in walkable, urban places. That's not to say those other factors don't come into play, but I don't hear people wanting to live in VaHi simply because of gas prices or that crime has improved. They simply want to live near where they work and play.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by JPD

Let's all just admit that we want our cities to be more like the cities of Europe.

Nothing wrong with that.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Nothing wrong with that.

I agree. It seems like people are constantly looking to NYC or Chicago as examples of what we'd like to be more like. Why not look to Europe, since that's what we really want?