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Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,485 posts, read 14,990,056 times
Reputation: 7333
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJPhilliesPhan
Better yet why don't you explain in detail why they are urban?
-High density residential and commercial buildings right next to each other. Check.
-Pedestrian friendly access. Check
-Close quarters to mass transit (picture #1 is 1 block from a subway station, Picture #2 is 3 blocks from a subway station, and picture #3 is the farthest at 10 blocks from a subway station. GASP!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJPhilliesPhan
I don't see it.
Now given the above, explain how it isn't. Your only reasoning so far is the "Nuh uh!" argument. That's not usually a good position to argue from...especially in light of data contrary to that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJPhilliesPhan
Why can't you be happy with Atlanta being what it is? It has been successful in the South with its current model no need to make it what it is not.
I am fine with the way Atlanta is.. Sure, there is a lot more we can do towards becoming a greater city than we are today, but how does suggesting that Atlanta is urban somehow translate to me not being happy with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJPhilliesPhan
But when you compare Cincinnati to Atlanta it is obvious that Cincinnati with its age and architecture is much more urban in the original sense.
Why does saying Atlanta is urban somehow translate into Cincinnati being less urban? This is not a game of "uncle" or an attempt by me to "convince" you that Atlanta is "better". I have stated that Cincinnati is very urban. It is no consquence to myself if you like Atlanta or not. What is disingenious however is to say Atlanta is not urban, yet offer no explanation further than "it just isn't" or "well, it doesn't look like Cincinnati".
Ugh, the whole Sprawlanta, "Sprawlsville" thing is played out. People act as if there is no actual city of Atlanta. Yeah, the suburbs are huge, but name one major city that doesn't have huge sprawling suburbs.
Also, alot of the people who are stuck on the "Sprawl" bandwagon against Atlanta rarely ever mention a few teency weency facts:
-Atlanta is only one of three major cities (San Francisco and NYC being the otehrs) this decade to surpass it's peak population from the mid-20th century. Atlanta hit it's peak population in 1970 at 490,000. It had two straight decades of population loss and dropped to it's lowest point in 1990 at 394,000 or a loss of 100,000 people. It rebounded in 2000 and the population moved up to 416,000. Between 2000 and 2009 the population grew by 130,000 to 540,000. For the first time in 50 years, the City of Atlanta grew at a faster percentage rate than the surrounding suburbs. This lead to...
-Despite supposedly "common knowledge", the City of Atlanta had the largest gain in population density than any other major city in America in the 2000s going from 3100 people per square mile to 4100 people per square mile in 9 years...30% increase. That's an increase of 1000 people on average for every square mile in the City of Atlanta, but the increase in density was not an even distribution because...
-Changing attitudes in urban living in Atlanta highlighted in that video you posted by such projects as Green Street Properties Glenwood Park and the Atlantic Station development helped in the growth, as well as the building of dozens of multi-story high rise condos in Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead. However, most of the growth (something like 70% of it) were in already established neighborhoods that saw very little new development and just rehabilitation of already existing structures.
So you can throw out the "sprawl bomb" thinking it'll scare me off of this tangent but given the data I posted, and not stuff you are assuming based off of 30 second youtube/google searches (ESPECIALLY that last one that always pops up on these threads that seemingly was made by a teenage high school student), how exactly is any of what I posted not urban?
NJPhilliesPhan, I've seen both of those YouTube clips before and no one is disputing the fact that Atlanta has sprawl, and lots of it. But there are also urban areas that get overlooked because people tend to be so focused on the sprawl. What gets overlooked even more is all of the urban infill that's been occurring in recent years. I dare say that Atlanta is urbanizing faster than many other large metropolitan areas are. Personally, I prefer a growing, progressive city that's working overtime to become a better version of itself than one that just rests on how great of a city it used to be without much progress happening today (and I'm not saying that the latter is Cincinnati, but I'm just speaking in general).
I understand what some are saying when they say that Cincy is more urban than Atlanta, and I agree to an extent. While Atlanta probably has more urban neighborhoods and districts than Cincy total, Cincy's urban fabric is denser and more compact proportionally speaking. I have no problem saying this since I don't think that urbanity is the be all, end all to any city nor does "more urban" equal "better."
See, this is really all I wanted someone from Atlanta to admit. why was that so difficult?
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
8,485 posts, read 14,990,056 times
Reputation: 7333
Quote:
Originally Posted by Akhenaton06
NJPhilliesPhan, I've seen both of those YouTube clips before and no one is disputing the fact that Atlanta has sprawl, and lots of it. But there are also urban areas that get overlooked because people tend to be so focused on the sprawl. What gets overlooked even more is all of the urban infill that's been occurring in recent years. I dare say that Atlanta is urbanizing faster than many other large metropolitan areas are. Personally, I prefer a growing, progressive city that's working overtime to become a better version of itself than one that just rests on how great of a city it used to be without much progress happening today (and I'm not saying that the latter is Cincinnati, but I'm just speaking in general).
Agreed. Another thing that bothers me to no end (as an ITPer) is how if you have a conversation about say Boston or DC or Miami (all cities that like Atlanta have about 600,000 residents in the city and the bulk of their million plus metro populations in the suburbs) then that conversation rightfully will be about the city proper. Change that conversation to being about Atlanta and you get endless discussions about it's "sprawl" and how most people live in the suburbs. Newsflash, most people live in every metro's suburbs and not the city proper.
And I agree, Cincy is pretty damn urban when it comes to it's urban core. I don't think that should be in dispute.
Far be it from me however to mention that is due to the fact that Cincinnati used to be a much larger city than it is now and has lost almost half of it's population in the last 50 years...
HAHAHAHAHAHHA that video calls Atlanta a "poster child for urban sprawl". LOL, whether its valid or not, it is pretty funny to hear that amidst this particular discussion.
Last edited by 5ive8ight5ive; 10-06-2010 at 02:47 PM..
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