When I was a kid, I used to sketch out designs for futuristic cities in my notebooks. Complete with domed arenas, skyscrapers and fantastic highway intersections, they looked a lot like, well, a lot like this:
This is current-day downtown Atlanta, as seen from a hotel in Midtown.
Atlanta, like so many American cities is visibly awash in automobile infrastructure – wide streets, freeways, on-and-off ramps and parking. Lots and lots of parking. Take a close look again at the photos and just notice how much real estate is given over to temporarily storing cars. And, this is a city with a fairly robust rail transit system. MARTA certainly has its flaws, but as the last true subway/heavy rail system built in America, it’s more than most cities have.
When I took these pictures a couple weeks ago, and when I was walking around, I noticed something else. Or, I should say, I noticed the absence of something. In the middle of a typical weekday, in the largest city in the Southeast, there’s virtually no one walking around. Despite a fantastic array of economic activity (the sheer numbers of hotel rooms, bars, restaurants, offices, apartments, etc is more than impressive), there’s little to no LIFE.
If we were honest with ourselves, we’d just admit that the entire system is designed for that to be the case – it’s no accident. The roadways are all sized for the 10 hours a week that people scurry on and off the freeways to get to far-flung destinations. (incidentally, that’s 6% of the week, leaving 94% of the time they are dramatically over-designed for.) Garages are all sized to handle the load of cars at the peak time. Transit systems are designed to deal with what is left – those who cannot afford to drive, and the handful of people who choose not to. Sidewalks are an afterthought at best, as the pedestrian environment is really only for conveying people from a parked car at one end to a destination a short walk away.
I can say with experience – most of the walking in this area is depressing. If you don’t have to walk, you wouldn’t, as you are presented with a series of blank building walls, panhandlers, wind tunnels and cars zooming by at 30-40 miles per hour on city streets.
We assume every trip is a car trip, and then design our systems to assure that’s the case. This is the modern city. This is the dilemma.
At one time, even this part of this city was a walkable, vibrant place. But over the course of a few decades, it was transformed into a place with great numbers of stuff, but no people. No joy. No wonder. No wonder, in fact, that people don’t walk.
Without life on the streets, there’s very little reason to want urbanity. Eventually, people realize that they’re making a trade-off that’s not enjoyable, and will simply choose to live or work somewhere else. If you don’t have the upsides of vibrancy, excitement and convenience in the middle of the city, all you have are the downsides (noise, traffic, expense, lack of space).
Those fantasy cities of my youth were fun to draw and imagine, but even then, I never imagined them as being devoid of people. We can certainly get carried away with the flavor-of-the-moment in terms of urban fixes (stadiums, highways, entertainment districts, high-rises), but we should never forget the fundamental element that keeps people coming back to cities: other people. Without that basic element of life (other life), we might as well sit at home and watch TV. Cities are not statistics.
As we conceive of the next wave of urban repair, I’d encourage every planner, every architect, every elected official to ask: what does this do to actually get people out on the streets? Would I walk more or less because of this change? What would it take to get me and my friends and family to walk more? Until we examine every project and detail through these kinds of lenses, our cities will not give us joy and pleasure, and they will in turn never return the kind of investment they aspire to.
7 Responses to Cites are not Statistics
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Like this post! The Ed Glaeser / Richard Florida view of cities as creative places, innovative hubs and econmic powerhouses, and the scientific/ technology-centric Smart Cities school are in danger of overlooking this fundamental issue; cities are about people; – even the non-creative non-innovative types.
“Or, I should say, I noticed the absence of something. In the middle of a typical weekday, in the largest city in the Southeast, there’s virtually no one walking around. Despite a fantastic array of economic activity (the sheer numbers of hotel rooms, bars, restaurants, offices, apartments, etc is more than impressive), there’s little to no LIFE.”
While I agree that Atlanta definitely has work to do in order to bring vibrancy to the streets and make the city a more walkable and more walking friendly city, this is simply not true.
Where you were taking pictures from and I assume staying, the Melia hotel (which, why would you stay there if you’re looking to stay in a walkable area?) definitely fits into your views expressed above, but that area of town is a no-man’s land between downtown and midtown, both of which have plenty people of walking around.
It seems to be if your experience was based around the location of where you stayed which, admittedly, is not a good one for enjoying the city via foot, then you failed to experience the city’s vast array of neighborhoods and population centers which would have provided the experience you wanted.
Jordan- I think you miss my point. If you look at that particular area statically, there is a LOT of activity – offices, residences, hotels, businesses, etc. The Fox Theater is 3 blocks away. The Marta station is 2 blocks. And yet, you’re right – it’s basically a no-man’s land. That portion of the city has more than enough people and activity, but no life on the street b/c of how it’s designed and built. It’s a huge flaw not just of Atlanta, but most relatively new American cities.
Certainly there are areas in the metro that have much more walking – this is not to demean all of Atlanta. Even still, with all the “stuff” in Midtown, I’m often amazed how little actual street life there is. I’ve stayed downtown a few times, and it largely a ghost town at night. It’s an issue of priorities – if you plan for walking, you’ll get walking. If you plan for cars, you’ll get cars.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Kevin
Really enjoyed this post. I moved to Atlanta from Boston a few years ago, and I have noticed that pedestrian-oriented “life” along the streets in the urban core is severely limited. My wife and I walked from her office along Peachtree in Midtown to the symphony a few weeks ago on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and we shared the wide sidewalk with no more than a dozen people over six city blocks. While new development along Peachtree has ground-floor retail and restaurants, each building has massive parking garages that discourage any meaningful walking or activation of the street. That, combined with vacant lots along the city’s most iconic thoroughfare creates little more than a four lane conduit for automobiles. I am encouraged by the construction of new apartment buildings that will hopefully bring new residents (younger, more mobile, folks who don’t necessarily want to buy a condo) to the city, but there is still a very long way to go. Atlanta was built – or rebuilt – to accommodate vehicles more than humans, and even more recent development threatens to prolong that very damaging trend. The leaders and developers of Atlanta should take a long look at other vibrant cities in the US and abroad to understand what a true urban place looks like.
All of that said, Atlanta’s in-town neighborhoods like Inman Park, Virginia Highlands, Little 5 Points, etc. have vibrant, walkable areas that one might not see from a hotel in Midtown, but your point is well taken that there is far too much car infrastructure.
[...] Here's an interesting take on Atlanta from a Savannah resident who has a strong background in planning and a passion for walkable cities. Cites are not Statistics | New Urbanism Blog [...]
I wouldn’t say that there is “no one” walking around, but it is one of the first things I noticed when I moved here from NY five years ago. Only a real New Yorker will understand this – I feel safer walking around in NYC. There are so many other pedestrians out, that I don’t worry about getting my purse snatched, or being bothered. Here, not so much. It’s even worse in Gwinnett County where we settled. NO side walks and yet Starbucks is a mere five minute drive away. The residents in my neighborhood fought tooth and nail, from what I understand, to keep the local bus system out. They didn’t want the congestion, they called it. Some said they didn’t want the undesirables standing on the street corners waiting for buses, as they commuted here to work, school, or to play. I remember when I first transferred here from our corporate office in NY and how coworkers looked at me as though I had two heads when I suggested carpooling to reduce gas house emissions. Looking around at the cars next to me on a ridiculously packed I85, I notice lone drivers in their cars. All banging their fists on the steering wheel and cursing at Atlanta traffic, but all riding solo….
Oh, but one last comment that I forgot to mention! Go to the lovely area surrounding Piedmont Park and you will be pleasantly surprised – joggers pushing baby carriages, people walking multiple dogs (Of which many are my beloved Pit Bulls, being walked so nicely!), plenty of bicyclists, and families strolling. I love this part of the city. Downtown? Nah. Certain streets are like a ghost town on the weekends.