Beall's Hill - Macon

The Beall’s Hill Neighborhood in Macon, Georgia went though a charrette and design process for six days in the Fall of 2001 which was lead by the Knight Fellows from Miami University with local support and direction from the City of Macon, Macon-Bibb County Planning Commission, Mercer University and citizen stakeholder groups.
The strategic goals of the program were to revive the existing HOPE IV community through a revitalization grant, create a more viable market based housing component and bring commercial and retail back to the neighborhood. Unlike many of the “new urbanist/mixed-used” neighborhood developments in Atlanta, this particular neighborhood plan paid close attention to attracting and maintaining a population with diversity of income, ethnicity and age. The charette members paid particularly close attention to environmental justice issues in infrastructure development (including roads and detention) as well as affordable and safe transportation options.


Good quality existing 19th and 20th century buildings with traditional building materials, the grid pattern development (little to no cul-de-sacs) and the topography rolling slopes provided an aesthetically interesting framework with which to being the revitalization process. Charette participants were conscious of the existing low-income and aging status of the residents in the neighborhood and the resultant plan paid close attention to infill development and pedestrian scaping that catered to the needs of the community. Some proposed developments for the neighborhoods included a cohousing program, a senior community and/or deeper lots with secondary dwellings for aging family members.