Hey, I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but if you haven’t had your daily dose of “Atlanta sprawl sucks, urbanism rules!” tonic today, you’re in luck. A well-produced, 9-minute version of just that, Atlanta-style, courtesy of American Makeover.
h/t: Fresh Loaf
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Interesting video, although it’s odd they would hold up Glenwood Park as an example. I had a family member who recently moved out of there: the property prices were dropping, shops were closing (or not opening as planned), and there’s not really a live-work atmosphere.
It’s a promotional video. Not putting it down, it’s just what it is. It’s interesting as a highly inorganic way to reproduce, or rather imitate, an organic way of life. But, hey, you do what you can, just as we do in Decatur.
Judd — Are you saying Decatur is equally “inorganic” or that Decatur is the opposite? If the opposite, how so? I mean, much of Decatur — for example, MAK, Winnona Park, Great Lakes and Glennwood Estates, were all master planned by a single developer, selling lots to be built by multiple builders in exactly the same way Glenwood Park was. The only real difference is that the former lack any real mixed use. But the preconceived notion is the same for all of them.
How do you define “an organic way of life”? Or am I misreading your comments?
Maybe he meant to say that Decatur offers an orgasmic way of life?
I don’t think any of those neighborhoods compares to GE, which would see itself more as a peer of City of Decatur. City of Decatur is much more of a organic-inorganic mix, and that’s largely simply a product of time. There was not “a developer” of Decatur, though there was and is a lot of development going on and there wouldn’t be a Decatur without it.
Since you asked: I admit that there’s something mythical (artificial, if you will) about the idea of an organic community, and i don’t think that’s even the right term, ultimately. But a lot of the appeal of these new urban settings (including ours and its appeal to me too) grows from a dissatisfaction with the dominant sprawling, inhuman dimensions of the alternative. ANd it’s a sort of hearkening back to .. well to what? Something less artificial, more natural, on a more human scale. It’s in search of a more complete way of life. But I’d say it’s defined more in terms of what it’s not than in terms of what it’s for.
blah blah blah
All I see is that poor dog on a balcony instead of a grassy yard. If that is the future-concrete shells, dying plants on a tiny balcony, no yard for gardening-give me sprawl.
blah blah blah is right. The cheap houses start at half a million. The idea is good, but let’s retrofit some existing communities rather than build some yuppie enclave that can’t accommodate 90% of the people who would like to live in a place like that.
New Urbanism is well intentioned, but hasn’t quite gotten it right yet. I like what you said – it’s actually very easy to retrofit existing intown development towards a new-urbanist-like layout. The new Downtown Kirkwood is an example – building new, Main Street commercial centers within existing neighbhorhoods is much more of a natural improvement.
There are tons of trolleycar suburbs around intown Atlanta that don’t have their own Oakhurst Village or Decatur Square. Most of them are built on walker-friendly grid patterns, with smaller road dimensions, but don’t have anywhere to walk to. That’s where I would start, if I were a card-carrying New Urbanist.
Although I haven’t done an audit, I’d posit that Glenwood Park is not a financial success and capital has seen significantly higher returns in sprawl and far less interesting developments. If true, that doesn’t bode well for developments similar to Glenwood Park. I believe there has been nothing similar in Atlanta even after almost a decade after inception.
With the competition for development dollars and inconsistent development codes between municipalities, sprawl will stay alive and healthy.
I’ve only recently heard of Glenwood Park (which is strange because I’m often around EAV and Grant Park.) I drove through it for the first time earlier this year. It’s a great looking development, but clearly kind of an empty shell. You have 2-3 anchor businesses and what seems to be a pretty low occupancy rate for residential (not a lot of foot traffic). I know a lot of this is attributable to the economy but the place could use some improved marketing.