Thursday, February 26, 2009
News Word: Smart-growth guru smacks Atlanta
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Last week, acclaimed New Urbanist Andres Duany visited metro Atlanta to design several mixed-use sites for the Atlanta Regional Commission. He was deliciously brutal in his criticism.
"If Decatur's great, it's only in the absence of anything better."
— Duany rips into the Atlanta neighborhood that the audience claims to be the most walkable.
"The only reason Atlanta isn't mortified by its urban sprawl is because of its landscape. This the best-looking urban sprawl in the country."
— Duany claims the region's low-rolling hills help mask the dumb-growth.
"You have [massive parking decks] all over Atlanta. Who the hell wants to drive to the 15th floor? You feel like a loser even if you find a parking space."
— Duany says the city's parking decks should never be taller than five stories.
"Your streets are fantastically dangerous. And it isn't the muggers. It's the motorists used to driving fast."
— Duany points out that the city isn’t safe for pedestrians.
Note: Now that I've been provided with maps and designs, I'll be writing more later in the week about Duany's presentation and plans. He's got a lot of interesting ideas for metro Atlanta — Toco Hills and Grant Park, in particular.
Comments (5)
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Mr. Wheatley, you cover Atlanta development like no one else! Nice work. And nice use of the word "deliciously" BTW
Oh please. Duany is a fucking David Brooks worshiper, which automatically moves him to the very back of the cool line. Take your BoBo and shove it, jackoff.
Ooh, ooh! Because I'm feeling nasty... "Who the hell wants to drive to the 15th floor?" Me. Because as bad as that is, it beats selling out to send thousands of Americans to their deaths. And I don't even drive in the ATL.
AD has his issues, primarily he has been reduced to short stints in big cities where he does no research, waves his magic wand, and applies his same formula to every problem. He has to 'perform' and make outlandish statements or it doesn't look like he is worth the big bucks he is being paid. He has some good ideas, but they get lost in the simple regurgitation that he performs at each new stop. There is no denying that Atlanta has sprawl issues, but let's talk to Mr. Duany about all of his new urbanism that is built on greenfield sites outside of the current rings or urban sprawl. He really needs to understand the advantages of re-urbanism; the Beltline redevelopment will put to shame any New Urbanist plan Duany has ever done once the Beltline really gets rolling.
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