It seems that every other month a national study is calling Atlanta an obese sprawl monster that can't get out of its own way. But one op-ed writer challenges those findings, asserting that Atlanta's "Sprawl King" label is inaccurate, and will be even less so in the future. On the topic of new Atlanta homes, condos and apartments in walkable places, Mark Elliot, a Troutman Sanders LLP attorney and local real estate expert, makes a pithy observation in an Atlanta Business Chronicle column titled Atlanta: no longer the King of Sprawl. "By all accounts these residences are not creating a market demand; they are following that demand," Elliot writes. "Whatever drove the suburban rush in the last two decades here is not over, but that driver is not nearly as strong. This demand is being driven by the hordes of younger people coming to (or staying in) the area, that find a place to live that meets their lifestyle expectations, and then find the job they want." (We like the sound of "hordes.") Elliot points to the recent Georgetown University study that labeled Atlanta the country's eighth most walkable community. Just last year, Walk Score put us in 20th place. All of this spells rapid improvement, right?
· Atlanta: no longer the King of Sprawl [ABC]
· The Best Places in Atlanta For A Semi-Walkable Lifestyle [Curbed]
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