Mayor Reed Launches Atlanta’s Urban Vision

From the City’s Press Release:

ATLANTA –Mayor Kasim Reed announced today the release of the Atlanta City Design, a plan that envisions what Atlanta could look like in the future, helps guide upcoming decisions on development and investments, and influences policy to ensure intentional design for the city. Mayor Reed, along with City Planning Commissioner Tim Keane, Atlanta City Design Project Manager Ryan Gravel and local architect Oscar Harris, briefed the public today about the plan.

The Department of City Planning, with the input of residents, visitors and local designers, worked to create the Atlanta City Design. The Atlanta City Design promotes sustainable design that incorporates the social, economic and environmental needs of the city. The design also aims to improve and accentuate Atlanta’s authentic character in a way that can accommodate a much larger population, offer additional transportation solutions and ensure more affordable housing opportunities.

“We are proud to launch the Atlanta City Design – the first planning initiative of its kind in the city’s history,” said Mayor Reed. “Our city has grown over the past decade, and as the economic engine and the cultural capital of the Southeast, Atlanta will continue to attract new residents. We are in a unique position to plan for this growth in a smart, efficient and intentional manner. By planning for our future, Atlanta will remain a global center for business, continue to draw the best and brightest talent and secure our status as a center for culture and innovation.”

The Department of City Planning initiated the Atlanta City Design in January 2016.

“The goal of Atlanta City Design is to ensure Atlanta grows in a way that protects the integrity of our people and places,” said Tim Keane, Commissioner of the Department of City Planning. “Now that the guide is developed, our next steps will translate directly into our new mobility plan, zoning ordinance changes, conservation and preservation efforts, housing strategy and other tools and plans. When built, this design will enable a new generation of growth to create an even better city for everyone.”

Atlanta City Design focuses on five core values:

• Equity is ensuring that all the benefits of nature, access, ambition, and progress accrue fairly to everyone.
• Progress is to protect people and places with meaning from the market forces that will otherwise overrun them.
• Ambition is to leverage the disruption of change to unlock new opportunities for people to do what they want with their lives.
• Access is to update our hub of transportation for a new generation while also building a sense of community and place.
• Nature is to protect and expand the ecological value of our watersheds, forest and habitat in the face of rapid urbanization.

The Atlanta City Design book is available at www.atlcitydesign.com/. Entitled “The Atlanta City Design: Aspiring to the Beloved Community,” the document articulates an aspiration for the future city that Atlantans can fall in love with, knowing that if people love their city, they will make better decisions about it. These decisions can be reflected in all the plans, policies and investments the city makes, allowing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s concept of the Beloved Community to guide growth and transform Atlanta into the best possible version of itself.