Atlanta: "The City That Keeps Changing America" -CNN

[jayden]

Check out this pretty great read. Atlanta has really come into its own to become one of the most important cities in the US within the past decade.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/a...cmd/index.html

[bossabreezes]

This is a CNN homer fluff piece, nothing more. It's similar to any home town news source saying they're the best at xyz, not very credible. Atlanta is hardly changing anything in America, except destroying once pristine wilderness for tract homes and soulless strip malls.

Atlanta is no different than any other suburban sprawl metro and does not have a good reputation in comparison to the hyped Southern cities like Austin and Nashville. It's not especially interesting at street level and is certainly not creative or innovative enough to make it important on the national level. It's biggest plus is the low cost of living.

[Steely Dan]

^ jeez, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

and is certainly not creative or innovative enough to make it important on the national level.

fluff piece or not, i feel very confident in saying that Atlanta has now grown to sufficient size to be nationally important.

no, it's obviously not NYC or DC level important (few cities are), but it's still a US city of national significance none-the-less.

most recently notable for pulling its state of georgia ever so slightly to the blue side in the last presidential election, and thus putting one of the the first major cracks in the GOP's "southern strategy" wall.

[Labtec]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ jeez, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?




fluff piece or not, i feel very confident in saying that Atlanta has now grown to sufficient size to be nationally important.

no, it's obviously not NYC or DC level important (few cities are), but it's still a US city of national significance none-the-less.

most recently notable for pulling its state of georgia ever so slightly to the blue side in the last presidential election, and thus putting one of the the first major cracks in the GOP's "southern strategy" wall.

Yup, don't know what's wrong with that guy.

[bossabreezes]

Nothing wrong here, just pointing out that Atlanta is not special or even unique on a national level.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

Nothing wrong here, just pointing out that Atlanta is not special or even unique on a national level.

You would be wrong but entitled to your opinion. Atlanta is a city that punches far above its weight historically and economically. Even if the Braves suck.

[L.ARCH]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

This is a CNN homer fluff piece, nothing more. It's similar to any home town news source saying they're the best at xyz, not very credible. Atlanta is hardly changing anything in America, except destroying once pristine wilderness for tract homes and soulless strip malls.

Atlanta is no different than any other suburban sprawl metro and does not have a good reputation in comparison to the hyped Southern cities like Austin and Nashville. It's not especially interesting at street level and is certainly not creative or innovative enough to make it important on the national level. It's biggest plus is the low cost of living.

I think this is exactly why Atlanta IS so important for the country. It has been the posterchild for what not to do for decades and now finds itself in the midst of a development boom that could transform it into a more dense, walkable, and innovative urban environment. But this transition threatens what was initially so attractive about it - a more affordable place to live and raise a family. If it can see it's way through this transition in an inclusive, equitable and sustainable way, then it can be the shining example that other post war American cities can learn from.

[bossabreezes]

Originally Posted by JManc

You would be wrong but entitled to your opinion. Atlanta is a city that punches far above its weight historically and economically. Even if the Braves suck.

Atlanta has history, of course. But history alone does not make a city great. This is obvious.

Atlanta punches above its weight economically for a metro region with over 6 million people? News to me, but if that's the case that's great! I've always thought it was exactly what you'd expect a city/metro of its size to be.

Even though Atlanta is making changes to density in some spots, it's about 3 decades late. The damage is done. Atlanta represents all that is wrong with the majority of sunbelt cities- greed & the opposite of sustainability (huge houses at cheap prices, that take up huge amounts of electricity and resources, and terrible public transport.) If greed and vanity is culture, then ATL definitely has it.

Is this unique to Atlanta? No....which is exactly why I said it's not unique. Every city has history but not every city is as badly planned and as wasteful.

[the urban politician]

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry talks about Sunbelt cities "becoming more walkable, urban, and dense" and the story gets old.

Get real, folks.

If you didn't finish building your city by about 1940 or so, your chance of becoming a dense, urban, walkable city in the US is zilch. Hasn't happen, won't happen.

And now with post-COVID, WFH snowflakery, Electric vehicles, it's even less likely to happen.

But I still like the sunbelt nonetheless. It's cold up here in the north, the entrenched interests (corrupt unions***cough cough) are out of control, and some day I'm headed down there to join y'all!!!

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

Atlanta has history, of course. But history alone does not make a city great. This is obvious.

Atlanta punches above its weight economically for a metro region with over 6 million people? News to me, but if that's the case that's great! I've always thought it was exactly what you'd expect a city/metro of its size to be.

Even though Atlanta is making changes to density in some spots, it's about 3 decades late. The damage is done. Atlanta represents all that is wrong with the majority of sunbelt cities- greed & the opposite of sustainability (huge houses at cheap prices, that take up huge amounts of electricity and resources, and terrible public transport.) If greed and vanity is culture, then ATL definitely has it.

Is this unique to Atlanta? No....which is exactly why I said it's not unique. Every city has history but not every city is as badly planned and as wasteful.

Do you seriously expect it to look like Boston when the vast majority of its growth took place after after WW2 where cars, highways and master planned development were ubiquitous?

[mhays]

It would look a lot more like Boston if there was some effort to limit sprawl. That might be politically impossible in the South, but it's been done many times and does work.

[bossabreezes]

Originally Posted by JManc

Do you seriously expect it to look like Boston when the vast majority of its growth took place after after WW2 where cars, highways and master planned development were ubiquitous?

No, I never said it should look like anywhere. I'm pointing out it's highly flawed and not unique.

The CNN piece paints Atlanta as some sort of El Dorado, ''Changing America'' when in reality, its just another sunbelt city with nothing particularly special about it, which I've already pointed out. If history makes somewhere special it's kind of like giving a trophy to everyone..which then makes it....say it with me ...not special.

[badrunner]

Atlanta is unique in that it's a postwar sunbelt city with a substantial core and has a larger downtown population living in a true urban environment than similar cities like Houston, Dallas or Phoenix. Of course outside this core is one of the most disjointed and sprawling metros so it has its challenges. I would say it's pretty unique culturally and demographically as well, just from the fact that it's in the heart of the South and thus represents the most vital center of black middle class wealth in the country.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

No, I never said it should look like anywhere. I'm pointing out it's highly flawed and not unique.

The CNN piece paints Atlanta as some sort of El Dorado, ''Changing America'' when in reality, its just another sunbelt city with nothing particularly special about it, which I've already pointed out. If history makes somewhere special it's kind of like giving a trophy to everyone..which then makes it....say it with me ...not special.

Imagine being so salty an article about Atlanta triggers such a response. If you actually read it, they discuss its historical, cultural and economic significance which is unique to Atlanta...not other sunbelt cities. I live in Houston, we are NOT like Atlanta. Nor are we like Phoenix or Nashville.

Originally Posted by mhays

It would look a lot more like Boston if there was some effort to limit sprawl. That might be politically impossible in the South, but it's been done many times and does work.

Your city is more pragmatic about sprawl but still doesn't come close to Boston like levels. Seattle like Atlanta are products of their eras of development. Fortunately, both are improving.

[bossabreezes]

Originally Posted by JManc

Imagine being so salty an article about Atlanta triggers such a response. If you actually read it, they discuss its historical, cultural and economic significance which is unique to Atlanta...not other sunbelt cities. I live in Houston, we are NOT like Atlanta. Nor are we like Phoenix or Nashville.

I'm not salty, not sure why one has to be ''salty'' or upset when pointing out a place's flaws and shortcomings.

Nobody wrote an article about how Houston is ''Changing America.'' This article alleges that Atlanta is changing the US, when at most, the US is changing Atlanta.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

I'm not salty, not sure why one has to be ''salty'' or upset when pointing out a place's flaws and shortcomings.

Yeah. You're salty.

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

This article alleges that Atlanta is changing the US, when at most, the US is changing Atlanta.

Food for thought. I guess .

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

I'm not salty, not sure why one has to be ''salty'' or upset when pointing out a place's flaws and shortcomings.

Nobody wrote an article about how Houston is ''Changing America.'' This article alleges that Atlanta is changing the US, when at most, the US is changing Atlanta.

Because you went off on a tangent about sprawl and the sunbelt when that was not of the point of the article. Like typical SSP fashion, if a city in question is not among the approved list of more 'urban' cities, it is ripe to be shit on by the forum's peanut gallery.

How many circle jerk articles has the New York Times or the New Yorker written over the years about New York? Probably a lot and don't tell me New York is without its flaws.

[bossabreezes]

New York has more flaws than otherwise at this point and I will be the first person to admit that, I have zero problem pointing out issues where they exist.

If it's gauche to comment on a city's urban (or anti urban) form on an urban development forum.......not sure what to say.

I initially pointed out that CNN wrote a homer fluff piece and how Atlanta is not that special and everyone got offended. Would it have been better for me to just drink the cool aid? Maybe for the easily offended, but not for me. It takes critical thinking to not just go with the flow, and a lot of people are not comfortable with that.

The world continues turning and everyone continues taking care of their own lives, as they should.

[mhays]

If someone posted that Seattle is changing the US, it would get crapped on too, particularly if the source was local or related.

This is an urban board, and comments are typically nicer to urban places. That's to be expected if people are honest. Yes the negative stuff is excessive sometimes, but I really think that's rare.

On this topic, Atlanta is doing some good things with infill, and that's fairly typical. But the article is about the city's place in racial history and its food culture, not urbanity. In the first one it really has played a lead role.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

I initially pointed out that CNN wrote a homer fluff piece and how Atlanta is not that special and everyone got offended.

you initially said that atlanta "is not important at the national level", a contention that i took exception to, and said as much.

does the overwhelming majority of atlanta have pretty crappy urban form? quite frankly, yes.

but that has little bearing on its status as a nationally important, top 10 metro area, IMO.

feel free to disagree with me on that if you like, but you won't change my mind.