Atlanta - Cityscape

Cityscape

Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet architecturally, the city had never been particularly "southern”—because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city’s landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest. In addition, unlike many other Southern cities, such as Richmond and New Orleans, Atlanta chose not to retain its historic architectural characteristics, instead viewing itself as the leading city of a progressive "New South" and opting for expressive modern structures.

As a result of Atlanta’s embrace of modernism, its cityscape is dominated by relatively recent architectural styles, containing works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century. The city’s skyline, which began its marked rise in the 1960s, is punctuated with buildings of both modern and postmodern vintage. At 1,023 feet (312 m), Atlanta’s tallest skyscraper—the Bank of America Plaza—is the 52nd-tallest building in the world and the 9th tallest building in the United States. The city’s embrace of modern architecture resulted in an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation, leading to the destruction of notable architectural landmarks, including the Equitable Building (Atlanta’s first skyscraper), Terminal Station, and the Carnegie Library. The Fox Theatre—Atlanta’s cultural icon—would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s.

Atlanta is divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods. The city contains three major high-rise districts, which form a north-south axis along Peachtree: Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead. Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy, low-density neighborhoods, most of which are dominated by single-family homes.

Downtown Atlanta contains the most office space in the metro area, much of it occupied by government entities. Downtown is also home to the city’s sporting venues and many of its tourist attractions. Midtown Atlanta is the city’s second-largest business district, containing the offices of many of the region’s law firms. Midtown is also known for its art institutions, cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, and dense form. Buckhead, the city’s uptown district, is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown and the city’s third-largest business district. The district is marked by an urbanized core along Peachtree Road, surrounded by suburban single-family neighborhoods situated among dense forests and rolling hills.

Surrounding Atlanta’s three high-rise districts are the city's low- and medium-density neighborhoods. The city’s east side is marked by historic streetcar suburbs built from the 1890s-1930s as havens for the upper middle class. These neighborhoods, many of which contain their own villages encircled by shaded, architecturally distinct residential streets, include the Victorian Inman Park, craftsman Kirkwood, Bohemian East Atlanta, and eclectic Old Fourth Ward. On Atlanta’s west side, former warehouses and factories have been converted into housing, retail space, and art galleries, transforming the once-industrial West Midtown into a model neighborhood for smart growth, historic rehabilitation, and infill construction. In southwest Atlanta, neighborhoods closer to downtown originated as streetcar suburbs, including the historic West End, while those farther from downtown retain a postwar suburban layout, including Collier Heights and Cascade Heights, home to much of the city's affluent African American population. Northwest Atlanta, marked by Atlanta’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods, has been the target of community outreach programs and economic development initiatives.

Gentrification of the city's neighborhoods is one of the more controversial and transformative forces shaping contemporary Atlanta. The gentrification of Atlanta has its origins in the 1970s, after many of Atlanta's neighborhoods had undergone the urban decay that affected other major American cities in the mid-20th century. When neighborhood opposition successfully prevented two freeways from being built through city’s the east side in 1975, the area became the starting point for Atlanta's gentrification. After Atlanta was awarded the Olympic games in 1990, gentrification expanded into other parts of the city, stimulated by infrastructure improvements undertaken in preparation for the games. Gentrification was also aided by the Atlanta Housing Authority's eradication of the city’s public housing. The gentrification of the city’s neighborhoods has been the topic of social commentary, including The Atlanta Way, a documentary detailing the negative effects gentrification has had on the city and its inhabitants.