Nickname: bestleaguer

Review: Lakewood and Fort McPherson (Fort Mac)are not counties in Georgia. And developments like Atlantic Station (granted on a much smaller scale) are indeed in vogue today--much broader than just four counties.

Date reviewed: May 10, 2006 12:39 AM

Nickname: Tokie

Review: Anyone interested in this subject should read "Sprawl Kills - How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money."

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 6:40 PM

Nickname: kathyann

Review: Why is this comment box so un-user friendly? I have to scroll back and forth to read the comments.

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 5:14 AM

Nickname: APK

Review: Life is so unfair. Everything there is so nice and clean and fancy. Of course, only people with a lot of money will be able to afford living there. Do you think it will stay nice like that for very long? I wish the Bronx were as nice but if they tried to make it like that we'd all be forced to move out so all the rich people could move in and then I guess I wouldn't be able to enjoy it properly. I hope I can live in a place like that when I'm older though. By the way, why is everyone mentioning Disney?

Date reviewed: Feb 18, 2006 3:19 AM

Nickname: JA Natick

Review: Having this discussion about New Urbanism, smart growth, etc. is great and shows just how complicated the process is. Take a trip down to your New Urbanist mall's bookstore and peruse "Suburban Nation" by Duany Platzberk (mentioned in above article). This is a great introduction to TND development and will be able to tell you how "New Urban" your development is. A landowner (in most cases) has the right to do what he wants with his land. It's up to the planning process to make sure that individual developments are the best for the community as a whole. Development is like a game: The planners, citizens, public officials set the rules; the developers will follow. It's as simple as that! (Ya right!)

Date reviewed: Feb 17, 2006 7:07 PM

Nickname: Mick

Review: The whole idea is very attractive. One, we try to reduce congestion, especially if there is a mass transit station nearby. And the walk, shop, and entertain all within a few minutes is even more attractive. But the only thing that concerns me about New Urbanism, is that a majority of folks, like teachers, managers of small retails, or local and new business owners, fireman, EMS, secretaries and such can not afford a $450K 1 or 2 bedroom loft or condo. I am not a big fan of driving, nor will I ever be, so something like this would be great. But making $20K, there is no way for me to afford this lifestyle. Until it becomes more accessible to a majority of those in the lower class, this is just more elitist for the upper class or a marriage couple with a gross income of at least $70K to make this a dream worth pursuing.

Date reviewed: Feb 17, 2006 6:13 PM

Nickname: James Pugsley

Review: Atlantic Station and other new urbanist developments will gain character with time. When they are first built, the developers must secure high rents to make money. This means their tenants will mostly be affluent people or big businesses, often not locally based. As time goes on, succession will occur to people and businesses less rich, as the buildings age and some of the costs are amortized. Some failures will occur, and the buildings will wind up with unexpected owners. If you look at Atlanta neighborhoods with "character", like Virginia Highlands, the character rests on decades of business failures and successes, and changing use of buildings, in directions no one anticipated when they were built. The saving grace of new urbanist development is that the buildings themselves are more amenable to this type of change- they aren't as disposable (we hope) as typical strip center development.

Date reviewed: Feb 17, 2006 2:53 PM

Nickname: KimballNinja

Review: Asking for small, local, mom and pop stores in a multi-million dollar development project isn't going to happen. Developers need to see a return on their investment, and there's no way they, or their lenders, are going to rely on small stores with shaky credit to finance these projects. Whenever you develop a large project you are going to need large companies with established track records, because the financial risk is to great otherwise. I only say this for people to understand developers don't really have much of a choice in the types of stores they bring in. While this trend is encouraging compared to single use strip malls, you will still encounter monotony in these centers.

Date reviewed: Feb 17, 2006 2:41 PM

Nickname: DM

Review: The concept of locally-owned and operated business seems to be absent from this Atlantic Station enterprise. This is very important to the vitality of a city. Who cares if you can walk to Ikea or TGI Friday's? The profits go out of state, and they contribute nothing back to the "community." Local business is very important for real, functional urbanism. It means that things are made and sold locally, and the business can support a middle-class family living in town. Successful cities are complicated things. You can't build a bunch of condos and chain stores and call it a city, or expect it have the charm and resilience of America's great urban neighborhoods. D.M. Brooklyn, NY.

Date reviewed: Feb 17, 2006 1:52 AM

Nickname: LD

Review: While this concept may work in some areas, there are exceptions. Our town is in the process of trying to create these community centers and in the process their plans are to push all the small businesses out in order to accomplish their goals. Care must be taken to include all the current property owners while designing your mini cities. I have always lived in the country and really do not support this type of urbanism in my area. You should not be permitted to play out with the old in with the new unless all parties agree.

Date reviewed: Feb 16, 2006 8:11 PM