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decorative lighting that indicates when trains are arriving, retail and art space.
Parking and transportation make up a significant portion of the master plan. There
are 96,000 parking spaces in Downtown, but 30,000 of them go unused on a daily
basis. Eliminating and consolidating parking lots and decks is one of the cornerstones
of the plan, in hopes that it will drive more use of public transportation like MARTA.
“A monthly MARTA pass is $95,” said master plan designer Joel Mann. “You
can get a monthly parking pass for less, so there’s no incentive to take public
transportation.”
Another suggestion is “fare holidays,” which would make public transportation free
for commuters for a period of time to show them the advantages of using it to travel
across Downtown.
Preserving Downtown’s historic buildings was also key to the plan, especially after
so many have been demolished in the last decades. Fifty percent of the structures
are 50 years or older, and repurposing those for residential, office and retail is a
high priority. The creation of a Downtown Preservation Task Force to enhance
communication with the city is also proposed in the master plan.
A final draft will be completed next month and go before the City Council in
November.
You can see the slideshow presentation and recommendations for the Downtown
Atlanta Master Plan at plandowntownatl.com. [d
The Atlanta City
Design, 2017
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design a better Atlanta, in addition to our history and the change ahead, this
requires us to better understand the city's physical form. So, in the following
pages, we describe physical conditions end how they translate into a new
lorm lor the city that couldn't happen anywhere else. It's not unexpected. It's
just intentional, It's drawn from this place in the world and then designed
with our values in mind, so that the ouicome of this future Atlanta is even
■
Beloved Community
New book will act as guiding document
for Atlanta's future growth & development
By Collin Kelley
Atlanta’s Department of City Planning and Atlanta City Studio have released
a nearly 400-page book called “The Atlanta City Design: Aspiring to the Beloved
Community,” which will act as a guiding document for the city’s growth.
A print version of the book is coming soon, but its available for free right now
in digital format at atlcitydesign.com. The book was launched at a special ceremony
on Sept. 6 at the new location of the Atlanta City Studio in Cascade Fieights. The
studio is a pop-up design studio and incubator that moves around the city to create
conversation and gather input on growth.
The book is filled with photographs tracing Atlanta’s history, as well as short
essays and texts about the city’s future design and growth.
Mayor Kasim Reed said Atlanta City Studio and the book were created to help
answer pressing questions: “What do we want our city to look like? Fiow do we want
it to work? What do we want to develop? What do we not want to develop? Fiow do
we connect it all? Fiow do we have more trees and cleaner air?”
Reed said residents could expect a new mobility plan, new zoning ordinances,
conservation plans and a housing strategy so people don’t get pushed out of their
homes as the city grows.
Ryan Gravel, the visionary behind the Atlanta BeltLine who leads the Atlanta
City Studio, said Atlanta’s planning effort is unique. “Cities aren’t doing this. No
other city is thinking this thoughtfully and comprehensively about its identity, about
who they are, then building a future based on that.”
Gravel said the core of the book is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s concept of the
“beloved community” — a society based on justice, equal opportunity, and love of
one’s fellow human beings.
“The book is designed to articulate an aspiration for the future city that
Atlantans can fall in love with,” Gravel said. “It sets the tone for planning, policies
and investments. We want Dr. King’s idea to guide the city into the best version
of itself.” IE]
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AtlantalNtownPaper.com
October 2017 | INtOWn 7