Atlanta named most liveable city in the United States

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

the downtown is bereft of life at night. How is that for livable?

downtown manhattan is sort of the same - the life is mostly in midtown, no? same as atlanta, the majority of people live in midtown and that's where most of the nightlife/restaurants are. but even then downtown is changing - lots of student housing going up in downtown including a 38 story tower that just topped out.

[mrnyc]

^ actually no, the official or whatever midtown manhattan neighborhood is a bit over 100k people in a bit over 2 sq miles.


***


gotta love the fairfield county ohio historical society — they went there —
sold out lol:


https://fairfield-county-heritage-as...ibextid=C8kmS4

[SteveD]

Granted, silly ranking and sort of arbitrary criteria; however, I'll say most of the many millions who live in metro Atlanta love it, as I do, even as I scroll through the somewhat predictable anti-Atlanta animus.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by SteveD

Granted, silly ranking and sort of arbitrary criteria; however, I'll say most of the many millions who live in metro Atlanta love it, as I do, even as I scroll through the somewhat predictable anti-Atlanta animus.

I like Atlanta and can see why it might do well in a comparative ranking. It has something pretty decent for every lifestyle urban to rural and in between. I'd give it high marks in most categories with crime and infrastructure being exceptions. Bus transit isn't good and roads are not keeping up with growth. Yeah, it has deficiencies but so does everywhere else.

[lio45]

I’d say it’s mostly anti-stupid-list animus, not anti-Atlanta animus.

Vancouver is one of the least livable cities I’ve ever experienced. (I lived there for half a year not long ago.) Regular people there have basically no hope of not living paycheck to paycheck unless they find the will to move to a more livable city.

That said, my internet connection during my time in Vancouver was top notch, I’ll grant you that. (Most important criterion of all, it seems.)

[Shawn]

Hazardous dams per capita get weighted, but nothing about miles of public transit per capita?

OK Economist. OK.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Hazardous dams per capita get weighted, but nothing about miles of public transit per capita?

OK Economist. OK.

Actually, having the dam risk on a per capita basis is incredibly idiotic. The (calculable) risk of a given dam failing is totally independent of the quantity of population that’d drown if it did. And if you live outside the risky area, the risk is zero.

That’s like saying that given that everything in the PNW gets leveled by a Cascadia Megathrust earthquake once per 500 years on average, that the “earthquake risk per capita” is much lower in Seattle than in a low-populated area of coastal WA State.

Or that Miami’s hurricane risk per capita is much lower (thus much more acceptable) than the hurricane risk per capita of an equally exposed but much less populated area of the southeastern Florida coast.

[tdawg]

Having just been to Atlanta (Decatur, actually) for a wedding, my second trip in the past year but first two in over a decade, I can believe the ranking. The changes that have occurred intown, mostly around Midtown and the Westside because of the Beltline, and the population growth of the core, are astounding. It's definitely a more lively, interesting and exciting city than the one I left in 1999. We're considering moving there in 2 years after my husband finishes his PhD here in NYC.

[jmecklenborg]

^I visited Decatur last month. The couple I visited lives within walking distance of the Lake East MARTA station, but I don't sense that they or their three kids ever use it. The thing probably opened around 1980, meaning in 40 years it has attracted zero TOD (likely because of zoning) and functions like a glorified bus stop. I mean, look at this:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ea...!4d-84.3129585

There ought to be a cluster of 20~ floor apartment towers in this spot, but no doubt area residents would (or already did) band together to keep it from happening, one of the concerns no doubt being increased vehicular traffic.

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Originally Posted by Tuckerman

Just a note: The EIU is a British organization- I don't think they are "very American". In fact, the only highly ranked cities in their index are Canadian.

For some reason, the Brits seem to have an affinity for Atlanta. I wonder why? I'll be going there the end of this week. Can't wait!

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

There ought to be a cluster of 20~ floor apartment towers in this spot,

and were it not for atlanta's heavy orientation toward detached SFH's on big lots, you wouldn't even necessarily need 20 story towers to MASSIVELY increase the tract density around that station.

the tracts around it are currently in the 2,000 - 8,000 ppsm range. and it's not out in some far-flung area, it's only ~4.5 miles east of downtown.

traditional low-rise urban development with tighter streets, tighter lots and rowhouse/small scale multi-family could easily 5x the density without any highrises needed at all.

but once in place, it's very hard to turn back the clock on all of that entrenched detached SFH zoning.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

^I visited Decatur last month. The couple I visited lives within walking distance of the Lake East MARTA station, but I don't sense that they or their three kids ever use it. The thing probably opened around 1980, meaning in 40 years it has attracted zero TOD (likely because of zoning) and functions like a glorified bus stop. I mean, look at this:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ea...!4d-84.3129585

There ought to be a cluster of 20~ floor apartment towers in this spot, but no doubt area residents would (or already did) band together to keep it from happening, one of the concerns no doubt being increased vehicular traffic.

this is why i don't think we deserve expanded heavy rail. we aren't even taking advantage of what we have outside of a few stations. this city is socially quite progressive but is so afraid of change to the built environment (think of the trees! think of the traffic!) it's not so much east lake station (that's the last station before downtown decatur) but so many others closer in.

[tdawg]

Decatur is a separate city and has its own zoning laws. It's historically made up of craftsmen bungalows, part of its charm. MARTA has several TOD development projects under way in the city of Atlanta including a massive new one at Bankhead Station where Microsoft is in the early stages of developing an East Coast hub directly tied into the station.
https://www.itsmarta.com/marta-advan...-projects.aspx
https://canada.constructconnect.com/...ect-in-atlanta
https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/m...soft-campus-go

[Labtec]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The grid is terrible and traffic there is horrendous. And since the transit is almost non-existent there isn't much alternative to driving for most people. I personally think Atlanta's traffic is worse than L.A.'s.

Atlanta's traffic is nowhere as bad as LA. I live in Atlanta and whenever I'm in LA whether rental car or Uber, I'm always stuck in traffic. You can live car-free in midtown or downtown Atlanta with Marta access to the airport, Buckhead, Sandy Springs as I did after college.

[pdxtex]

Atlanta is nice but I think I could live better in Columbus or Minneapolis. Atlanta is probably more exciting tho.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

For some reason, the Brits seem to have an affinity for Atlanta. I wonder why? I'll be going there the end of this week. Can't wait!

It's The Economist, the UK's Wall Street Journal. That might help explain their viewpoint a bit.