New Urbanism and Crime in Atlantic Station

Many older communities in Atlanta have been completely transformed into upscale, urban communities. Atlantic Station opened in 2005 and was marketed as a "Live, Work, Play" community with high end condos and apartments and upscale retail stores. Many people believed that because of the area's exclusivity, crime would be virtually non-existent, until its first murder in March, 2007. An associated press news article noted that just because the high price ranges of the residences prevent people from lower incomes from living there, it doesn't prevent people from lower incomes from venturing into the area for recreational purposes. Coincidentally, I ran into a couple of guys from my hometown while in the area taking photos and it seemed that they were indulging in the same "activities" I remember from nearly 20 years ago. I'm not saying that they were commiting crimes, however, they weren't exactly shopping at Jos A Bank either. One of the officers in the article stated that these areas are viewed as literal playgrounds for criminals who also assume that because they don't live there, it will be more difficult for them to get caught.



Atlantic Station now features its own "Milennium Gate." (Looks a tad familiar...) The bridge provides a nice aesthetic touch and connects some of the residences with the commercial part of the community.



I can say with a large degree of certainty that most of the people I saw walking around the area were probably not residents of the community, but the large variety of amenities attracts many visitors. A good view of the rest of the city can be seen from various locations in the community.

Construction, construction, construction, EVERYWHERE. It will be really interesting to see how this community shapes up when it's finally finished.





This is the street behind Atlantic Station where many of the homes are up for sale and more construction of new homes is taking place across the street. Appears that Beazer homes was the lucky developer in this area.

Ethnoburb shopping

All of the signage pics were taken along Buford Highway. As I was driving on Buford Highway I noticed the signage for the developments. Not only do the names of these places sometimes give a clue to the intended community but I think the languages posted reflect exclusivity to their business. I can't read Chinese so I don't have a clue what some of these places are marketing. Granted many times they have English as well, but I wonder if it is meant for ethnicities other than Asians for example or if instead it is attempting to draw those Asians who have no understanding of Asian languages. Obviously their are many places listed in the photos that are focused on community services like dentists, insurance agencies, mortgage companies, and salons just to name a few. The Asian community along this part of Buford Highway is very intent on establishing businesses for their group. It is somewhat odd however that the Asian community as a whole is so inclusive with Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese all incorporated into these pan-Asian shopping centers. I also find it amusing how all of these ethnicities found along Buford Highway co-exist side by side and not concentrated more into one section. Although this isn't always true of the shopping centers, there seems to be a fairly common mixture of Hispanic and Asian businesses.

Out of all of the pics I would just like to point out one. Treasure Village must truly be a treasure. It had the most diverse listing of businesses. They have a restaurant, an ice cream shop, a billiard hall, a laundry, a bilingual XXX movie theatre (parejas son gratis "couples are free") and an Asian strip joint. I believe the existence of an Asian strip joint is either the extreme case of ethnic communities supporting all of the needs for their group or the case of a specialty fetish business. Alas, I didn't stake the place out to analyze the patrons, but that would be very interesting.

Atlanta Business Chronicle on Anti-Sprawl movement

As I was reading this week Bruegmann's history of sprawl and the anti-sprawl campaigns I was struck by the attached article, "Transurban Opening Atlanta Office," which appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday. The group's move signals a growing effort to reduce traffic congestion in the Atlanta metro area and the southeast. How does this fit into Bruegmann's argument? Is this part of the latest campaign against sprawl?

Here is a company that focuses on combating the traffic congestion associated with sprawl and is recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as one of the world's most sustainable companies, yet ironically constructs HOV lanes and toll roads around the world! Can it possiblely be part of the anti-sprawl campaign which took off in the late 1990s? The existance of this company demonstrates the complexity of the anti-sprawl campaign and its "cost of sprawl" and "automobile dependence" arguments. Bruegmann explains that the reality of sprawl often means the construction of more roads. "It might make perfect sense to build relatively inexpensive and up-to-date new schools or roads for new residents at the suburban edge, allowing the existing roads or schools in the central city to better serve a reduced population until gentrification and rising land values make possible the very expensive renovation of the old infrastructure." (p. 139) In the same chapter, Bruegmann also examines "one of the most important arguments against sprawl...that it leads to automobile dependence and that this is turn leads to congestion, longer communites, more pollution, and the depletion of entergy sources." (p. 140) While Bruegmann provides a well-research account of this argument that connects the decentralization of housing and jobs to additional and less congested roadway capacity at the periphery, he fails to take into account what happens when the highways at the periphery are congested by communters from the ever expanding low-density sprawl of more and more suburbs farther out. What companies like the Transurban Group show us is that concepts like sustainable growth and "smart growth" will become more and more common in both the everday jargon of Atlanta residents, businesses, and newspapers.

Bruegmann end that same chapter by describing Atlanta as "a kind of new Los Angeles, contempoaray American's prime example of sprawl." (p. 159) For my own research interests it is Bruegmann's linking the urban and suburban explanations for sprawl to the current anti-sprawl movements arguments, which best explain why even if one is focusing on in town neighborhoods, a metro scale is needed.

Sources:

http://www.skycomp.com/Atlanta/HTML_Slides/regional-maps.html

http://www.transurban.com/

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/03/31/daily47.html?f=et50&ana=e_du

Friday, April 4, 2008

Transurban opening Atlanta office
Atlanta Business Chronicle

Australian toll road investor and manager Transurban Group has picked Atlanta for its fourth U.S. office and hired Bill Berry to run it. The company said the new office is part of its increased focus on Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama. Transportation expert Bill Berry has been named vice president of market development for the Southeast. Transurban said Berry is an expert in public private partnerships (PPP) who was involved in industry and political efforts to draft and pass legislation to enable PPPs in Georgia. He served as local project manager and political leader for the development and submittal of Georgia's first PPP proposal -- Georgia 316.
"Like the company, I am passionate about finding and promoting sustainable solutions to the growing congestion problems facing the nation, working in true partnership with the state and the community," Berry said.