Can Atlanta “Mature”?
Decatur Metro | May 24, 2010Many of us agree that Atlanta has its problems. Heck, we probably wouldn’t have much to talk about if we were as satisfied with Atlanta as many are with Decatur.
And many of those problems revolve around “infrastructure” and a general lack of foresight up at the Capitol.
In a recent article on “Newgeography”, titled “Is It Game Over For Atlanta?“, author Aaron Renn argues that recent declines of “in-migration” expose Atlanta’s short-comings in a post-construction boom era. And compared to other late 20th century boom-towns like Dallas and Houston, Atlanta’s growth is slowing. This leads Renn to the conclusion that Atlanta’s life-cycle may be at “maturity”, soon to be out-classed by Dallas and Houston, along with smaller regional up-starts like Charlotte.
But after a couple decades of unprecedented growth, I’m not sure if a population slowdown is such a bad thing. Such times allow a city to come down from its building euphoria and allows it time to reassess.
So while I agree with Renn that it’s clearly time for Atlanta to decide what sort of city it wants to be in the 21st century, I choose to be more optimistic…probably because I actually live here. Atlanta’s growth may be slowing, but perhaps its a necessary step to get political leadership to look for a new path of development incentives and infrastructure improvements beyond growing at the fringes.
Thanks to TeeRus and Brad for pointing out this article!
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Check out this article in Atlanta Monthly:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/06/here-comes-the-neighborhood/8093
At least now we have a Congressman on the Transportation Committee. Hank was appointed to Transportation & Infrastructure a couple of weeks ago.
The solution would be for metro Atlanta to leverage its South-leading immigrant population. Almost 15 years after its pseudo-turn as a world city in the Olympics, it could become a true world destination — a place that draws some of the best and brightest from elsewhere by welcoming them and making it easy for them to get a foothold in a new country. But the same attitudes about taxes and public investment that are driving Atlanta into the ground go hand-in-hand with the sort of xenophobia that runs wild in places like Cobb and North Fulton — and under the Gold Dome. So that opportunity, too, will be lost. Look for the Legislature to seal the deal next session by passing a me-too Arizona-style identity statute.
Georgia’s leadership could not be more inept or inane. We’ll soon be a suburb of Birmingham — and a national joke.