The City of Atlanta urban core has seen a complete transformation over the past couple of decades. GoogleEarth gives us the power to look back at how things have changed over time.
Aerials courtesy Google Earth. Captures are in order from 1993, 2003, 2012, and 2022. For photos of all of these neighborhoods and more visit my Atlanta page.
Midtown
In just a few decades, Atlanta’s Midtown has grown from a few towers near Colony Square to a thriving mixture of business and residential towers. It’s arguably the most high profile neighborhood in the Southeast and shows no signs of slowing down.
Old Fourth Ward
Most people consider this segment of the Beltline the epicenter of Atlanta’s 21st century boom. The area straddling the Beltline here has completely changed from a sleepy industrial zone to a booming corridor of adaptive reuse and new build mixed-use buildings. While the area has transformed into one of the most desirable areas around (and my favorite place) it has also created great affordability challenges that the City is struggling to grapple with.
Glenwood Park
Another industrial corridor that has seen transformation is the area of Glenwood Park. It’s become one of the best designed new urbanist neighborhoods in Atlanta (if we ignore the Kroger parking lot).
Summerhill
Out with the Braves, in with a thriving neighborhood.
Memorial Drive Corridor
The area once full of auto shops, and other non descript light industrial uses is now home to 1000s of residents.
West Midtown
The Howell Mill corridor has seen some of the fastest changes in the past decade. It now is home to some of the best mix of buildings but is an absolute pain to access due to the disrupted street grid caused by the various rail yards and lack of transit. Northside Drive and Georgia Tech’s campus also make it feel a bit cut off from the rest of the urban fabric.
Next time we’ll explore some of the explosive areas of growth in Charlotte.
For more photos, ideas, and insights on Atlanta visit https://philveasley.com/atlanta/
Phil Veasley 