CNU Atlanta: Blogger Smack Down!

I'll be participating in the CNU Atlanta Blogger Smack Down next Thursday, 5/15, at CNU Atlanta's monthly Thirsty Third Thurdays (T3) networking event.  I'm really looking forward to this and it shoudl be interesting.

Well, it won’t really be that much of a smackdown, but the gloves are off as we will find out who’s behind some of the coolest urbanism and architecture blogs in Atlanta.  I'll be there along with the guys behind ATL Urbanist (Darin Givens), Architecture Tourist (Terry Kearns) and History Atlanta (Conor Lee).

Have some questions? Ask away on the Facebook event page here. We’ll use the Twitter hashtag #CNUATLT3 during the event!

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, May 15th
• Time: 530pm - 730pm
• Place: Steel Restaurant & Lounge, 950 West Peachtree St, NW

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Quote of the Week: Speck on Urbanism

Urbanism is not an invention. It developed naturally over time in response to human needs. - Jeff Speck, Smart Growth Manual

There is a misconception that the New Urbanism is an invention or an architectural/planning idea that was invented from the minds of <Insert one: communists, socialists, planners>.  Actually, it's essentially a collection of evolved knowledge that was thrown away following WWII in favor of the drivable suburban experiment.  The new urbanists more than anything else can be thanked for digging that knowledge out of the trash can of history and putting it back in our toolbox.

ht: Todd Bonnett

Does Atlanta Need an American Makeover?

This is a well put together video by AmericanMakeover.tv chronicling Atlanta's unstoppable sprawl. It showcases the New Urbanist community Glenwood Park near downtown as an alternative to the unbridled growth that the city has experienced. The video is short but informative and I suggest you check it out. Also, if you have not had a chance to check out Glenwood Park, do so next time you are down near Grant Park or East Atlanta (it's right between them just south of I20)

New Urban Roswell Update

We've got a few news items of note this week from Roswell, around town and even outside the country.

Roswell

One large item to report here in Roswell from earlier this month is the groundbreaking of the midtown streetscape improvement project.  We haven't seen anything of note just yet but we can't wait to see the finished product in a year or so.

Milton County: Not This Year - NorthFulton.com - Personally, I'm not in favor of seceding from Fulton county.  I just don't personally feel that it's necessary.  I actually feel that if anything, there should be more county consolidation in the metro area.  The paying more tax for fewer benefits just doesn't resonate with me.  How many states should cut ties with the federal government under that argument. 

Metro

We were happy to see some progress on the Beltline this week.  

Second Portion of Beltline Complete - wsbradio.com - Another segment of the Beltline trail opened this weekend. From what we can tell, it looks very professional and it should be a symbol to people that the Beltline will actually happen.

Dunwoody Envisions Significant Mixed Use Development - Champion Newspaper - This is more of a 20 year vision but it is promising nonetheless.  

MARTA Faces Drastic Cuts - Creative Loafing - Can someone please do something about this?  It's not looking good for a transportation bill under the gold dome for the third consecutive year.  I think we can all agree that cutting MARTA train and bus service on Fridays would be bad for the local economy and bad for everyone's car commutes.  

Beyond

Mindspring Founder Takes New Urbanist Movement to Costa Rica - InsideCostaRica.com - Charles Brewer is nothing short of bold.  His development in south Atlanta, Glenwood Park, has won national acclaim and is truly a great accomplishment.  If you haven't seen it, you should take an opportunity to drive down and grab a bite to eat and walk through the neighborhood.  

Upcoming Events

Alive After Five- 4.15 - This year's Alive After Five season kicks off on tax day.  

Good Urbanism 101 - 4.15 - 5.4 - This is an educational event sponsored by the Georgia Conservancy.  There are six classes on quality urban design.  The course costs $200.

Dogwood Festival - 4.16 - 4.18 - The annual Dogwood Festival will be held in Piedmont Park.  This one is always a safe bet for a good time and you can appreciate Atlanta's largest park.

Inman Park Festival - 4.24 - 4.25 - The Inman Park Festival is Atlanta's largest festival.  We love this festival for many reasons but the fact that it is in the beautiful walkable neighborhood of Inman Park is probably the number one reason.  Inman Park is one of the few neighborhoods in Atlanta that exhibits many of New Urbanist characteristics.  Be sure to take MARTA if you go.

Congress for the New Urbanism - 5.19 - 5.22 - The most influential minds in the new urbanist movement will be here in Atlanta for the 18th congress.  The theme this year is Rx for Healthy Places and is a joint effort with the CDC.

Go Wild in Roswell - 5.20 - 6.6 - This is a citywide celebration of nature that will feature different events on different days.  Check out the link for details.

Atlanta Streets Alive - 5.23 - This one is still a little while away but it is a really interesting concept.  

The Congress of The New Urbanism Heads to Atlanta for its 2010 Meeting

The 18th annual Congress for The New Urbanism will be held May 19th - 22nd in Atlanta. It's great to play host to such a forward thinking roundtable. The theme of this year's congress is Prescription for Healthy Places. There will obviously be a big discussion about how neighborhood design impacts health and overall happiness. Surprisingly, Atlanta has come a long way since the 90's and we now have some great mixed use if not completly new urbanist neighborhoods. Some of the best examples are Atlantic Station, Glenwood Park, Smyrna Village Green and Serenbe. Take a quick look at the video and find out a little more about the CNU.

Peach Bites

Mother Nature becomes a dot-com
Atlanta Journal Constitution

We have a new big-time entrant into the green themed website arena. The Atlanta based Mother Nature Network (www.mnn.com) launched recently and it is a very robust offering. The website has eight main sections ranging from business to lifestyle and each section comes complete with its own blogger. The site also has a number of green themed videos and infographics that ou will find interesting.

Atlanta's Greenspaces Inadequate for a Growing Population | Planetizen
Planetizen.com

Not that we didn't already know this but Atlanta has the lowest percentage of green space amongst major American cities. The median amount for the nation's largest cities is 13.6 acres of parks for every 1000 residents. Atlanta is at 7.7. We are working on increasing that with the Beltline. The article also points to Gwinnett as a great example. Since 1997, Gwinnett has raised over half a billion dollars for parks and greenspace development.

Georgia K-12 Schools, Apply to Win a Free Energy Audit
MarketWatch (press release) - USA

Southeast Rebuild Collaborative, a five state energy office initiative to improve energy efficiency by at least 10% in the upcoming year, Southface Energy Institute and the Division of Energy Resources of the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) are offering a free energy audit to one K-12 school in Georgia. Anything that our schools can do to save money that doesn't need to be spend is fine with me. We look forward to seeing what school wins.

Serenbe in the News Again
Chicago Tribune

We recently highlighted an article from the NY Times that featured Serenbe and it's local, sustainable living model. It looks like the community is making news again but this time in Chicago which is home to the community that inspired Serenbe, Prairie Crossing in Grayslake.

Fees to Rise at Georgia State Parks
Peach Pundit

Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources is suggesting state park fees be raised from $3 to $5. Additionally, they are planning to raise the fees for annual passes to $50 from $30. I'm just curious whether they are raising the fee out of necessity or out of opportunity. It is no secret that during recessions, families look for cheaper alternatives to entertainment and the parks have historically been one of those cheaper forms.

Peach Bites

Outside Atlanta, a Utopia Rises
New York Times - New York,NY,USA
The New York times recently featured Serenbe in its Travel section. The piece was a very thorough piece that focused on the new urban and agrarian characteristics of the neighborhood. If you haven't visited Serenbe, it is a truly beautiful neighborhood that sets a great example for environmentally friendly, local living just outside of Atlanta.

Metro Atlanta Schools Rated in Top 10 for Energy Efficiency
Atlanta Journal Constitution - Atlanta,GA,USA
Atlanta ranks #9 in the nation in Energy Efficient buildings in a list produced by Energy Star. The metro area has 97 green buildings and a quarter of those are schools.

Atlanta-Area Cyclists Hit The Road For Bike Trails
GPB - Atlanta,GA,USA
Last week over 1000 cyclists took part in the fourth annual "Georgia Rides to the Capitol" event to bring awareness to need for a better and safer bike network for the state.

Andres Duany Has Plans for Atlanta

image courtesy of Atlanta Regional Commission/Duany Plater-Zyberk

I saw this one in Creative Loafing today. I got pretty excited because Andres Duany is truly one of my green heroes. He co-authored one of the most influential books on New Urbanisim ever written, Suburban Nation . His firm designed the master plan for Vickery Village in Forsyth County which is one of the Area's best examples of New Urbanism. They also designed the most famous New Urbanism development ever, Seaside. Needless to say, to have someone this influential focusing on areas in Atlanta is quite a big deal.

Duany and his firm Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) worked for 9 days in Feb. with a team of urban planners conducting a series of site planning sessions focused on six metro area sites. This is all part of the Atlanta Regional Commission's Lifelong Communities Initiative. The commission brought together experts in the areas of design, architecture, planning, aging and health to craft master plans for sites in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties as well as the cities of Atlanta, Conyers and Fayetteville.

The focus was on how to build better environments for Atlanta's aging population. It is estimated that one in five Atlanta residents will be over the age of 60 in the year 2030. Even with the focus on the aging population, many of the designs ended up as livable communities that can support the elderly as well as others from all generations. Any follower of New Urbanism will know that the segregation of one group or demographic is almost always a failure of design. Unfortunately, detals of all the site proposals are not available but below are the six projects that were discussed.

• Atlanta/Beltline
• Conyers
• Fayetteville
• Gwinnett Place
• Mableton
• Toco Hills/DeKalb County

You can see Duany's opening remarks here. It's an hour and fifteen minutes so don't watch it at work. The ARC has also archived many of the presentations from the sessions here along with a synopsis of each day's progress.

Although these are just plans and likely won't be realized in their current form, it is good to know that Atlanta is getting smart about planning andis looking toward a more sustainable future.

The Streets of Buckhead - LEED Silver & Brownfield Cleanup

This isn't necessarily new news but given that I spent soo much time and money in the Buckhead Village in the late 90's and early 00's, I felt obligated to write about it.  Man I spent so much money there.  About the only bars left that I would have frequented are East Andrews and Moon Dog's (although there are a few less memorable others).  Buckhead has done a complete 180 from the times when the area embraced a party district that was one of the nations most popular and oft notorious spots for nightlife.

From 2001 to 2003, the crowd declined in civility and in number until the massive crowds were gone.  Buckhead had decided that it was time for a change and about a year ago pretty much the whole buckhead village area was razed and a new era for Buckhead started.  This was because the vision of lifelong area resident Ben Carter was ready to be realized.  The Streets of Buckhead is as the developer Ben Carter Properties says;

...is the southern address for European style, in the heart of Atlanta's cosmopolitan Buckhead neighborhood. A unique collection of boutiques and restaurants, formerly found only along the world's most exclusive promenades, joins high-rise estate residences, amenities and entertainment in a true world class mixed-use community destined to set new standards for luxury and service.

I wouldn't say that the idea behind the development is the greenest ideology but the fact that they are pursuing LEED Silver certification and are dedicated to cleaning up contaminants around the area is a definite step in the right direction.  Below are some of the more environmentally friendly aspects of the development:

• Groundwater recycling to use where valuable potable water is not needed thus reducing the demand on Atlanta's already strained drinking water resources
• Low flow plumbing to reduce water consumption
• Environmentally friendly interior finishes
• Alternative transit options such as shuttles to MARTA, designated parking for alternative fuel vehicles and car/van pools as well as bicycle parking/storage
• Reducing energy use by 21 percent versus comparable developments.

All of this is great and will serve as an example for other developments in the area but my personal favorite is the cleanup of approximately 300,000 cubic yards of soil.  This cleanup was done under the Georgia Brownfields program.  This shows the commitment of the developer to the area and project.  They didn't necessarily have to do this but they chose to because it was the right thing to do. 

We won't be enjoying the finished product until Mid 2010 due to a slow real estate market but from what we can tell, it will be well worth the wait.  Thank you to Ben Carter for thinking of the environment in your efforts to build our city.