Could more elbow room be the future for Atlanta? (Marietta: 2014, home)

[arjay57]

Interesting article.

Atlanta, 2028

For years, metro Atlanta suffered terrible traffic congestion, brought on in large part by sprawl and decentralization. In response, Atlanta decided … to sprawl more. This scenario supposes that Atlanta resisted calls for transit and transit-oriented development and instead tried to "grow its way" out of traffic problems. Facilitating this shift are solar-powered roads run by Google—G-Roads—were driverless cars connect commuters to the city at 90 miles an hour. Congestion does fall in this scenario, but exurbs and edge cities expand considerably. From the report:

Atlanta had become a garden city on a once-inconceivable scale, providing millions of people access to both urban amenities and the countryside.

More...The 4 Transportation Systems You'll Meet in the Future - CityLab

[tikigod311]

Its interesting. They might not be totally off on Atlanta, but the draw of living intown is missed by the author. Not everybody wants to live in the 'burbs.

Driverless cars in mixed traffic, like the LA scenario, is a long way off as far as I see it. Vehicles, traffic control devices, and pedestrians really need to be networked for it to work well. Its possible, but this is assuming some sort of massive scale cooperation in being networked, and I don't see that flying real well in America right now. Are people and their position (in a car or on foot) easily figured out now, yes. But there will be large scale backlash to making it a requirement. And you would have to make it a requirement to make mixed traffic driverless cars safe.

These scenarios require far more planning and cooperation to be reality any time soon.

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Its interesting. They might not be totally off on Atlanta, but the draw of living intown is missed by the author. Not everybody wants to live in the 'burbs.

Honestly, just being ITP doesn't mean it is not sprawl. The vast majority of Atlanta, even inside the perimeter, is not reasonably walkable and would hardly be considered urban by usual standards. Most of Atlanta could benefit from something like this.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

Honestly, just being ITP doesn't mean it is not sprawl. The vast majority of Atlanta, even inside the perimeter, is not reasonably walkable and would hardly be considered urban by usual standards. Most of Atlanta could benefit from something like this.

I agree with Tiki. While you are right that there are definitely large swaths of ITP areas that are not walkable, there is a trend towards developing walkable communities and centers, as well as a ton of infill development. The areas growing most rapidly ITP are those that are walkable - like a lot of the east side neighborhoods. While the concept of self-driving cars going onto freeways at 90mph is pretty cool, it doesn't take into account that there are people out there who LIKE to walk, bike, or not rely on a car to get everywhere, and might not care about having a ton of elbow room. From a public health perspective, walkable communities also help to decrease obesity and chronic disease - and with obesity being the epidemic that it is in this country, we need more people out of their cars (self-driving or not) and walking some places. That's the direction intown Atlanta is going. The nice part about life here is that if you don't like that, you don't have to go far to be in the suburbs, or even rural areas, and maybe one day commutes won't suck as bad as they do now.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by CCATL

I agree with Tiki. While you are right that there are definitely large swaths of ITP areas that are not walkable, there is a trend towards developing walkable communities and centers, as well as a ton of infill development. The areas growing most rapidly ITP are those that are walkable - like a lot of the east side neighborhoods. While the concept of self-driving cars going onto freeways at 90mph is pretty cool, it doesn't take into account that there are people out there who LIKE to walk, bike, or not rely on a car to get everywhere, and might not care about having a ton of elbow room. From a public health perspective, walkable communities also help to decrease obesity and chronic disease - and with obesity being the epidemic that it is in this country, we need more people out of their cars (self-driving or not) and walking some places. That's the direction intown Atlanta is going. The nice part about life here is that if you don't like that, you don't have to go far to be in the suburbs, or even rural areas, and maybe one day commutes won't suck as bad as they do now.

A lot of suburban areas are going more walkable, too, though. Woodstock, Marietta, Decatur, Alpharetta, you name it.

[toll_booth]

Arjay, you need to patent the term "elbow room."

[bryantm3]

the more i look at this, arjay, i'm 100% sure this is satire. they're not proposing this as a "good idea". they're proposing this as a "worst case scenario". surely you post this in jest?

i mean, seriously, no one would plan a community like that. it erases everything we've learned about urban planning over the last 60+ years and goes back to a "jetsons"-era ideal of how a city should function, that has proven to be a terrible idea for traffic, public health, crime, the environment— you name it. it's so patently absurd that it shouldn't have to be explained as parody.

come on arjay, you're really pulling our legs with this one.

[ATLJR]

Bryantm3, they say in the title, "A new report offers a look at urban mobility circa 2030 that's both intriguing and frightening." Also, if people haven't realized it yet, arjay trolls for about 50% of his posts.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

A lot of suburban areas are going more walkable, too, though. Woodstock, Marietta, Decatur, Alpharetta, you name it.

Just because you can walk around the shopping center, doesn't make it walkable. What makes a lot of intown neighborhoods walkable is residents can walk from their home to restaurants, bars, retail, transit, etc. Woodstock is not walkable because majority, at least 90%, of the people still drive to get to the downtown area.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Arjay, you need to patent the term "elbow room."

I wish I could. It's really catchy -- once you hear it it's hard to get it out of your mind.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfoQBTPY7gk