Sprawling Hickory Springs

During Thanksgiving weekend I saw a whole different area outside Atlanta. We were still in season over the weekend, so we had to stay here over the break. Most families came out to be with us and a team mate lives about 45 minutes away from here, so we all went to have Thanksgiving dinner at her house located in Hickory Springs in Kenessaw, Georgia. When i heard the words Kennesaw, Georgia, the first thing that came to mind was an area that was country and totally different from the other neighborhoods I have been exposed to the last couple months. I was completely wrong, Hickory Springs was actually closer to sprawl than any neighborhood I have seen here in Georgia.

When we first started making the drive out that way, it was through fields and open land, seeming as if it was in the middle of nowhere. We passed several "battle field memorials" and it was a quiet southern area. Then we pull into her neighborhood and it has a completely different atmosphere than the surrounding area.

The first thing i noticed was that houses were almost identical in size, color, and layout. It had cookie- cutter written all over it. This meant that there was only a small range of economic diversity residing in Hickory Springs. The houses were all similar in size, so they all must have cost about the same amount, which is within a certain economic level's price range. The houses all had similar colors, which made them all look very much alike. There was no sense of individuality to the houses. Also, all the yards were about the same size which put all the houses fairly close together. The houses had driveways and garages on the front of the house, which was exposed to the street. As mentioned in "Suburban Nation" this is a huge characteristic of sprawl.

Another thing I noticed right away was the huge amount of cul-de-sacs. They were everywhere. Almost every side street that was turned off of ended in a cul-de-sac which made it really difficult to find our way around and back out of the neighborhood. Cul-de-sacs meant that we had to travel more distance, which sometimes required a vehicle.

There was no public transportation offered anywhere near this neighborhood. As we drove in I did not notice any strip malls, plazas, or grocery stores near. This means that people would have to use their own vehicles to get to places that were necessary on a regular basis. This defines sprawl because it is not economic friendly. The distance to the most basic stores is great enough that a bicycle could not be ridden there, it would have to be an actual vehicle.

This neighborhood has characteristics that define sprawl. Cookie- cutter, non diverse neighborhood, far from any type of store, no public transportation, and cul-de-sacs are all characteristics that contribute to this sprawling neighborhood of Hickory Forest.

Georgia Tech with Many Traditional Characteristics

After living on campus for more than four months now and getting to know it I have noticed that it contains several characteristics reflecting those of a traditional neighborhood. Some of these characteristics never really stuck out or mattered to me until I read "Suburban Nation". Georgia Tech's campus is set up as a traditional community which makes living on it very peaceful and safe. It includes a shopping center, large sidewalks, and public transportation.

First, Tech Square is has many businesses that are different from each other. It has everything from restaurants, a book store, Starbucks, a phone store, and a nail salon. Not far from there is a Publix. It is within walking distance of anywhere on campus. It is a nice place to spend time with friends or family, or even a nice, relaxing place to be alone. All the businesses are connected together with multiple levels. According to "Suburban Nation", these are all characteristics of a traditional neighborhood.

Georgia Tech is extremely pedestrian friendly. The sidewalks are very large, so people are encouraged to walk. Walkability is valued on campus because everything is relatively close and there are very few places for parking personal vehicles. Bike riding is also a popular method used on campus that is reinforced by the large sidewalks and because it is easier to park a bike than it is to park a car. Also, there is a barrier provided by all of the parallel parked cars which makes pedestrians feel safer, as stated in "Suburban Nation". Because the streets are so narrow, and sidewalks are so wide, many people chose to walk or ride a bike as opposed to driving their own car.

Public transportation is an option on campus that many people take advantage of. The stinger, stingerette, and the tech trolley are all options that thousands of students use everyday. This is very environmental friendly because it saves other people from having to take their own vehicles around campus. Because of these options of transportations, many students do not even own cars. It is a huge characteristic of a traditional community and is used at the maximum amount everyday.

There are many characteristics that Georgia Tech's campus has that reflect those of a traditional neighborhood. Shopping centers, walkability, and public transportation all contribute to this style of community.

Solving Atlanta's Water Woes

Ahmed Ismail

It is about time that the State starts thinking about how Georgia is going to get enough water that will not only handle future growth, but that will also accommodate current Georgia residents. According to creativeloafing, "A federal judge has set a 2012 deadline for Georgia to strike a deal with Alabama and Florida in its 19-year “water war” and be given U.S. Congress’ approval to use the north Georgia lake — or risk seeing its millions of gallons of water be called off limits."

Getting enough money for this sort of project is certainly not an easy task. Neill Herring is a lobbyist for the Sierra Club of Atlanta and he says that "the state’s plan of attack relies too heavily on creating new sources of water and overlooks cost-effective conservation measures."



“There are more extensive and expensive boondoggles in this document that I would have thought anyone would have the nerve to combine into a single parcel of political dynamite,” Herring says. “The beauty of most of these ‘remedies’ is that the facts that they are either unneeded, or won’t work, or both, are not going to be discovered until great wads of public money have been poured down the ratholes they create.”

Heriing thinks the potential cost of the state’s proposal could lessen the interstate highway program, which he thinks is the largest development in Georgia’s history. Unlike that project, however, the additional reservoirs and infrastructure work might receive little, if any, federal funding.

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2009/11/30/state-pushes-reservoirs-interbasin-transfers-to-solve-metro-atlanta-water-woes/

http://www.atlantawatershortage.com/?p=426

http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-08-17/story/atlantas_water_woes_not_boon_to_rest_of_georgia_experts_say

"The Story of Sprawl"

“The Story of Sprawl” is a 2-disc DVD set that I found as I was browsing through different websites of sprawl. This documentary is about the way our communities have been developed for more than half a century — houses separated from schools separated from businesses separated from nearly everything else you need. None of it just happened by accident and though development has been like this for more than 50 years, many have no idea how our communities and cities became so sprawling and spread out. Planetizen, a source for news and commentary on urban planning, released this visual document of how sprawl happened. This video combines sources from historic films like Lewis Mumford’s 1939 film The City and 1965’s No Time For Ugliness. Planetizen’s Managing Editor and Producer of this film, Tim Halbur said, “As I assembled these videos, I realized that they told the story of modern American development in a way I’d never seen before. We’re given the basic narrative in planning school, but watching these historic films and listening to the commentary brings the story to life.” This video also includes commentary from a compilation of experts including the authors of Suburban Nation, Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

Clips from the video can be seen here: http://www.planetizen.com/dvd

Posted by: Sarah Chang

The Influence of MARTA

Being a freshman with no car on a college campus in a city like Atlanta, the best resource for transportation would be buses or MARTA. So I decided to do a little research about MARTA and how it influences the people in a city-life community. MARTA stands for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. It was bought by the Atlanta Transit System, which was just a bus line, in February 1972 for $12.9 million. This collaboration reduced fares for the subway from 40 cents to 15 cents. By the end of 1972, there was a 21% increase in passengers; meaning more than nine million more passengers than anticipated had ridden MARTA since the fare reduction. There were 65 million passengers as a whole that year which was 11.5 million more than the previous year. Through the 1970s, MARTA received more than $800 million in grants from the federal government. This combination of a railway and bus service has made lives more convenient for those who live in the city. However, the railway and bus routes not only go from place to place downtown, but also in the surrounding areas from Doraville to Buckhead and even the Hartsfield Airport. People who live in the suburbs save their gas by parking at a nearby MARTA station and riding the subway downtown for work. Others ride the subway to save money and time on looking for a parking space for a big sporting game downtown. There are many reasons people use MARTA. It is a very sufficient way of public transportation.

First image: MARTA bus

Second image: MARTA train

Third image: a crowd waiting for a MARTA train

Reference:

"MARTA About MARTA." MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. MARTA, 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .

Posted by: Sarah Chang