I’m counting down a few final things I want to say to the city via this Tumblr blog, following my five-year deep dive into the subject of urbanism while living in Downtown Atlanta with my family. I’m retiring this blog at the end of October, 2015 and converting it to an archive of my observations during these years.

The streets of our city are more than what we see in the present moment and what we know of them from individual experiences. They have a past that’s as rich and varied as the number of people who’ve known them as homes or workplaces or hangouts.

As products of everything that’s happened before and that’s currently developing in the region, each street and each building tells a story about our local culture. And collectively they work to tell a larger story about Atlanta; one that we can move forward in a promising direction if we write it with care.

Old buildings reused: markers of a creative economy

This story of the city needs to have a mix of old and new to be complete. It’s easy to view shiny new buildings as a sign of new investment, and of course they are. But massive investments get made in restoration of old structures, and the return is significant, on an environmental, cultural and economic level. As we’ve seen from the Ponce City Market project and more, the act of re-imagining an old structure and giving new meaning and use to it can spur as much innovation as any new building, while also bringing in big investments.

An article published just this week contains some great arguments for the importance of reusing old structures instead of demolishing them for new construction, emphasizing the positive economic impact of reuse and of retaining a mix of building types:

“…Neighborhoods containing a mix of older, smaller buildings of diverse age support greater levels of economic and social activity than areas dominated by newer, larger buildings…Retaining blocks of older, smaller, mixed-vintage buildings can help cities achieve sustainable development goals and foster great neighborhoods.“

To illustrate the connections we have to the past in Downtown Atlanta through our “mixed-vintage buildings,” here’s a photo of Peachtree Street that includes the years buildings were completed. It’s a mix of time periods that reflects the various economic booms in the city that produced this construction.

The ongoing investment in these buildings bears fertile ground for creative adaptation. The Candler Building (1906) is being converted next year to either hotel or residential; the Flatiron Building (1897) is undergoing major renovation to house new offices including several floors for a Microsoft innovation center; the Equitable Building (1968) recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation to keep it competitive with the amenities of newer offices.

Urban “mindscape” as antidote to the static city

I think that sometimes we live in a city for a while and think of the built environment that exists as being set in stone – static. It’s helpful to keep in mind the potential Atlanta has as a springboard for good ideas and as a canvas for implementing them.

This concept of resisting the static view and instead realizing the full continuum of the urban place is similar to what one writer has termed an ”urban mindscape.“

Instead of looking around and seeing only what the city is today, as represented in a current streetscape for instance, a mindscape view can allow you to see Atlanta in a way that links its past, present and future in a continuous flow, with its ever-changing cultural and physical environment apparent.

Doing so can establish a good foundation civic innovation; because when the present-day city is viewed as a static entity, tied down to decisions and events from the past, that baggage often becomes a stumbling block to innovation (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard or read a phrase similar to “that can’t happen here, Atlantans won’t accept it” or “Atlanta is a car town, that idea can’t work here”).

But when the city’s culture and structure are understood as a constant flow, we can be more optimistic about creativity and change. As an example, let’s look at one streetscape – a single westward vista of Alabama Street at its intersection with Central Avenue. We’ll take in the past and present while also envisioning a future that serves as an improvement to the present while also fitting in with the flow of the urban environment that began in the past.

The top photo is of the ground level. The bottom two show the new surface level, one story in the air, thanks to a series of viaducts that now exists.

In the middle – the current day view – you can see the sad remains of the failed mall of Underground Atlanta. Vacant spaces and out-of-date facades tell a story of economic decline for the development. The bottom photo is a rendering from a potential redevelopment.

It’s possible to walk through here today and see not only the decline that’s overtaken the place, but also see what used to be here and what could come. The full flow of the street through time – a connection between periods of vibrancy that span centuries.

Planning Atlanta archive

Understanding planning mistakes from the past (such as the failed mall of Underground Atlanta) can help inform the many opportunities for redevelopment and reuse the city has. Turner Field, Medical Arts Building, Pullman Yards, the old Atlanta Constitution Building, Adair School, Ft. McPherson, the old Georgia Farmer’s Market…these are all opportunities to grow into vacant spaces in a smart way.

Plans for the built environment are telling; they reflect the way we view the city and its culture. For more info about the importance of understanding these plans, I turned to Joe Hurley at the Georgia State University library to talk about their incredible Planning Atlanta website. It’s a digital archive of 130 (and growing) planning maps of Atlanta from the 1930s-1990s. And there’s a Google Maps overlay so you can view changes over time.

Interview with Joe Hurley

How can Atlanta neighborhoods use these maps and documents in the Planning Atlanta website to make their communities better?

“The built environment of Atlanta, like most American cities, has suffered from 70 years of local, state, and federal policies that have strongly favored decentralization and automobile focused infrastructure projects.  

“As residents seek to make their communities better by focusing on built environment improvements such as better pedestrian infrastructure, Planning Atlanta can help inform residents and city council members of the relatively dense urban environment that once existed before our highways cut through neighborhoods and Portman skyscrapers and parking decks consumed the city’s core.  

"While there are many ways residents can use the digital collection, one important goal is to allow them to see how their neighborhoods have changed over time. By using the maps, documents, oral histories, and other material to gain a deeper understanding of their neighborhood’s past built and social environment, residents can learn from our city’s urban infrastructure failures and successes.

"Ultimately, one of the best ways for residents to make their communities better is to be well informed and to be actively involved with their neighborhood organization.  My hope is that Planning Atlanta will help to inform the public about how past city planning activities have reshaped the city and, hopefully will lead residents to demand better urban infrastructure from city leaders.  

Have you gotten any feedback from neighborhood organizations about the project and it’s use?

"We’ve received feedback from residents and neighborhood organizations that use the collection, such as positive feedback from the Westside Communities Alliance, which is using the collection to document Vine City’s past.  

"One of the most memorable emails was from a Summerhill resident who wrote to comment on one of my GSU Library blog posts about land use change in the Turner Field area. This resident explained that the material in the collection has a “meaningful impact on the community” and that it “answers questions I know are prevalent in my community.”