Where’s the Center of Atlanta Today?
Decatur Metro | June 28, 2011 | 3:17 pmAl points to this AJC article about a recent northside transit study, which suggests a Kennesaw-to-Dunwoody rail line and a northern extension of the MARTA red line, and states “Powerful forces are aligned to pull MARTA’s center of gravity to the north.”
Which raises an interesting question: While the current center of MARTA is obviously in downtown Atlanta, where is the true “center” of Atlanta in 2011? As any good student of urbanism knows, the centers of cities often drift over time. New York City’s core was once downtown around Wall Street. Now it’s up in the Midtown.
Atlanta may rank poorly in travel magazines of late, but it is perhaps one of the best U.S. examples of a mobile city core. Think about it . Originally, Atlanta’s center was “downtown”. Then it began a slow trip up Peachtree, eventually stopping in Midtown to enjoy lush greenery of Piedmont Park. Today, some might even argue it’s traveled further north to Buckhead evidenced by its glassy towers and high-end shops.
More interconnected rail on the northside of the city could potentially solidify the northside as Atlanta’s new core. That may not be so great for Decaturites faced with an ever extended commute to the city’s job center, but is it in the best interest of the metro?
If you look at a map of our major roads, you’d think Downtown is downtown. Our main roads and transit converge as if Downtown was still the center of town.
In fact, Atlanta’s if you count people, offices and businesses – Atlanta’s population center is somewhere around the top end of the Perimeter.
I wrote a little about the back when the AJC announced it’s move to Dunwoody. http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2009/08/17/ajc-moving-to-metro-atlantas-real-downtown
Well that answers that question. So now, shouldn’t Decatur transit supporters in turn be avid supporters of creating greater transit options at the city’s true center, even if it’s of little use to them?
To continue the thought a bit –
It sorta turns into a debate between bringing the infrastructure to the people or the people to the infrastructure. Decaturites benefit more from the latter, Perimeterites the former.
Since most of the infrastructure is already built, it seems like bringing the people would be more productive. But if you count safe streets and good schools as part of the infrastructure that argument gets twisted. And I’m betting that safe streets and good schools are a stronger draw on a city’s center than public transit options.
Scale and style of infrastructure may have more of an impact. Long lines between Kennesaw and Dunwoody will help commuters that work, or want to shop, in buildings adjacent to stations. But few people (of means) will take a train then get on a bus for the last mile. That will be more of a problem around the north perimeter than it is downtown since it is a much larger area.
It will be interesting to see if the Downtown Streetcar changes perceptions the way streetcars have in other cities. Of course the new Streetcar may not provide any more of a functional system than we have now until it is built out into a grid. Which of course may be never.
“So now, shouldn’t Decatur transit supporters in turn be avid supporters of creating greater transit options at the city’s true center, even if it’s of little use to them?”
I support it–if it makes MARTA a better system overall. By “better overall” I mean: working escalators, open bathrooms, more frequent service, and an end to the perception some have that MARTA is the transportation equivalent to section 8 housing rather than another form of infrastructure like roads.
Top end of the perimeter. Yes.
That is an interesting question that I will have to think about. What do you mean by “center”? There are many ways to define that. The center of culture, the business or economic center, population center, etc. Thanks for giving me something interesting to think about.
Economic mainly.
The center is probably drifting north but we in Decatur provide a southeast pull on it!
I would love a downtown to Kennesaw State marta line!!!!!!!!!!
How great would Marta curving around 285 connecting from say Avondale or Indian Creek up to Dunwoody be? I’m 29 and it’ll happen when my kids are 29 but just saying.
Your kids? Doubtful. Their grandkids, maybe. Big maybe.
Well, I was here when MARTA was first constructing the East-West (Blue line??) line and I did not think I would be still alive of be here when it finally opened. Now I am 150 year old (yes I am) and it is open. So do not discount the possibility of an expanded system in your life time.
It took a lot less time to run log extensions in the SF Bay area where cost and geographical are much higher impediments. Too bad our thinly-veiled racial regional politics are much bigger challenges that silly little issues like costs, tunnels, and mountains.
Yes, “thinly veiled” racism is rampant in all of Georgia, but particularly in the suburbs and rural areas –you have correctly identified the magic point of controversy here — not cost, not physical impediments, etc.
Taking all factors into account, my feeling is that Piedmont Park is the city center. No data to support that, but if I were trying to be scientific about it, I would exclude the most northern towns, Alpharetta., Kennesaw, etc. They are simply too far out there to fit into the concept of a city with any kind of center.
Do these “powerful forces” aligned to pull MARTA’s center northward include the people who live there? I thought they all moved up there to get away from MARTA.
Some long time residents did. But many of the newbies, particularly the transplants, are less hostile toward MARTA.
Atlanta has multiple centers, I think, but I believe most of the urban energy is pointing toward midtown. Many office tenants on the north side of town are relocating to Midtown and Buckhead, and there is expected to be a lot of apartment development concentrated in midtown over the next few years.
Right–the question seems to presuppose that Atlanta does have a center, and that presupposition is dubious.
Really?
Well, I’d say that downtown is the transportation center (obviously), but also, it still has a lot of business centers, plus the gov’t, plus GSU, so it’s still a center for a lot of the governmental and corporate activity, even if it’s not a residential center. But of course you could easily make a case that midtown or even the upper perimeter have a bunch of businesses too, and more heavily populated, and are closer to the population ‘center’ of the metro region. My vague sense, though, is that the metro area of so spread out and bloblike, with no one area being significantly denser than all of the others, both in terms of residential and of business activity, or in terms of employment and where people commute, that we don’t have a unique center.
Really I’m asking about the economic center of the city. I wasn’t specific enough in my original post. But you may be right, in that there’s not really a “center”. A less controversial interpretation is that Peachtree is the spine of Atlanta.
Maybe we should call it center of gravity. Population and economy may be increasingly weighing down the north side but the airport is like lead ballast on the south, (though it is a single destination and already served). Education, government, sports, arts all pull towards down/mid town.
The question to me is whether population and economics changes are enough to prioritize new trains of that serve the same function as existing trains but in a different place, (point to point commuting between new points). Or whether it is more functional to build systems that distribute commuters from existing infrastructure, (streetcar or concentrated bus networks around current stations). Of course if the money is collected from people willing to tax themselves, we will build what they want.