Big Weekend in Atlanta

I wanted to blog about a very big event coming up this weekend in Atlanta. As the entire state knows, Georgia Tech is playing the University of Georgia, if one could call it a university, at Bobby Dodd Stadium. As the fans gear up in their white and gold or red and black, the excitement can be felt everywhere in the state of Georgia. Alumni of Georgia Tech come back to re-experience the intensity of the stadium and UGA alumni come to see what an academically challenging school looks like. This event will bring a lot of people to the city of Atlanta, and in an already crowded and sprawling city, it will be extremely crowded.

Atlanta is considered sprawl,as defined by the authors of Suburban Nation, and therefore already has problems with traffic as all vehicle are funneled into wide streets that are easily congested. With all this attention being put on the city, will something be done to try to improve on the design of the city? The streets of the city are overcrowded without the addition of any other visitors and with the addition of each fan coming to see the game, the problem gets much worse.

But there is another side to Atlanta that isn't effected by sprawl which has been spreading rapidly across the nation. Outside of downtown Atlanta, the city can be considered traditional according to the views of the writers of Suburban Nation. The sidewalks are wide enough for a heavy flow of pedestrians and walking distances are very common for desired locations. According to the authors of Suburban Nation, this area should be able to handle the increase of people as fans come in for the game. Unfortunately, it can't.

Although the book says that traditional cities are more adaptable to great influx of people and traffic never gets too congested, in practice this does not seem to be the case. So is a traditional neighborhood really significantly better? In terms of ability to handle large amounts of people, the answer is definitely no. So as we all head out for the game, you should challenge yourself to think of a better design for a city that can bring together the better qualities of both traditional and sprawling areas.

--Michael Saunders