Comments on: City of Atlanta Grows By 20,623 People In One Year

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:34:01 +0000

As long as there is land to be developed, we will have both “in-densification” (my made-up word) and suburban sprawl. So no worries! There’s a future for commute-happy suburbanites and segway-dreaming urbanites!

I think the principle that has always driven development is that “like attracts like.” Urban tends to beget urban, suburban tends to beget suburban, and within each – commercial tends to beget commercial. Managing the last bit within each environment seems to be the key to the balancing act; the borders and transitions between urban and surburban are doomed to always be an expanding battle-ground.

By: DEM

DEM — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:04:18 +0000

I dunno, a lot of people work out there. Lots of major corporate HQ along the northern perimiter: UPS, Home Depot, etc. Those folks have no reason to move to Decatur or Atlanta proper, and I doubt their lifestyles are unsuatinable. Now, the people who work in Midtown and live in Alpharetta are, and always have been, nuts. But many of those folks are relatively high-income and won’t care about gas prices, and since they already put up with hellacious traffic, I doubt adding another 10 minutes tot heir commutes will matter to them. And although it’s safe to say we all find it perplexing, some people actually seem to like living in cookie-cutter, gated, unwalkable suburban communities. Bring them to Decatur and show them the very average 3 bedroom for $550,000, and they’ll be running back to Marietta where the same price gets you a McMansion.

By: Lain

Lain — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:41:26 +0000

The census estimate that was released yesterday says that Decatur has 19,168 residents. That’s down about 60 from last year, but up about 1,000 since the year 2000.

Here’s the link if you’re into that sort of thing.