Andres Duany’s plans for the Beltline, Toco Hills
March 10, 2009 at 9:47 am by Thomas Wheatley in News
Andres Duany
The Atlanta Regional Commission didn’t ask Andres Duany to envision a mixed-use design for Gwinnett Place Mall when he visited the region in February. But he did anyway.
He imagined how the stereotypical shopping box out in the wilds of suburbia would look should our economy collapse. Residents would have safety in numbers, gathered in dense housing. They could raze the single-family sameness surrounding them and plant crops. They could erect a wall to protect them from the barbarian hordes. Duany even included a moat. Because that’s how badass Duany is.
Last month, the smart-growth guru and father of New Urbanism converged upon Atlanta with a team of urban planners to conduct a nine-day series of site-planning sessions.
Duany’s team focused on five sites in metro Atlanta as part of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s initiative to prepare for the coming surge in the metro region’s aging population. In 2030, the commission says, one out of five adults in metro Atlanta will be over the age of 60. They’ll need a place to live. For people with limited mobility, the 40-story isolation towers we’ve stuck them in for the last few decades aren’t cutting it. The metro region’s sprawlish character isn’t hospitable for someone who can’t drive to the doctor, pharmacy or store. Simply put, the way things are right now, metro Atlanta isn’t prepared to accommodate many of the same people who helped build their communities.
Duany’s group aimed to see how the public and private sector can work together to change that. And for a wonk like me, it was a thrilling concept. After the jump, pretty pictures and lots of basic details.
Late last year, working with funding from a variety of nonprofits, agencies and private interests, the commission hired Duany. His task: Take existing sites that are the products of a spot-planning past — Atlanta, Toco Hills, Fayetteville, Mableton and Cumming, specifically — and retrofit them into walkable, enjoyable town centers where people can find not only the daily necessities, but also a renewed sense of community.
Duany, who’s an architect by training, also offered design suggestions for group-living homes in which seniors could have their own respective units that front the street. The support staff — nurses, doctors, equipment and storage areas — would be located in the middle of the building. That’s a complete reversal of how most group-living homes are now designed and a move away from the “warehousing” feel of many such buildings. He also said many metro Atlanta local governments’ zoning ordinances, which he considered outdated, should be revised. He pointed to the need to allow auxiliary apartments — the “in-law” suite in which an older relative could live near his or her family — as an example.
Each planned site included a basic transit plan serviced by standalone shuttles or which connect to existing transit systems that could ferry residents or visitors to nodes where amenities and businesses would be located.
And what started as a project aimed at giving senior citizens a respectful and humane living situation turned into a vision that — surprise! — anyone, of any age, could enjoy.
Here’s a quick visual overview of what Duany proposed for Toco Hills in DeKalb County and Grant Park along the Beltline. One of the design team’s presentations is available on the ARC’s website. It’s worth a viewing — Duany has his fair share of critics, but even they can’t deny he isn’t an entertaining presenter who at least has ideas. (We’ve already covered his excellent criticisms of metro Atlanta.) Final presentation notes will be uploaded to the ARC’s website in April.
(A disclaimer: These slides are tentative and may contain a couple of glitches. Duany’s team worked on a night-and-day schedule to design these sites from scratch. His team also only had a relatively small piece of property with which to work. They designed for a greater area to provide a framework into which planners and developers could grow if they chose. Also, these ideas are merely that — ideas. While the owners of the properties Duany designed were curious about development or redevelopment, no local government CL is aware of is currently considering rezoning proposals for them. If any of these properties are located in your backyard and you disagree with what’s proposed, then stay informed. But don’t pick up the pitchforks just yet. They’re merely ideas.)
In DeKalb County, Duany focused on a property near the southwest corner of the Clairmont and North Druid Hills Roads intersection. The area, which sits just down the road from the Toco Hills Shopping Center megaplex, was re-imagined as a mixed-use center. The busy and oft-congested intersection could be converted into a roundabout to better handle traffic flow. A park could be built in the middle.
A succession of phases would eventually transform the area into mixed-use buildings with street-level commercial. Per the smart-growth model, parking would be hidden from view, on the inside of the developments. This, in theory, brings people closer to the buildings and creates a sense of connection with the buildings. Connection builds relationships which in turn build communities. (Take a walk in downtown Decatur. Then take a walk down Buford Highway. Tell me which one makes you feel more connected with your surroundings.)
Toco Hills Shopping Center would also see a change: In a later phase of the project, Duany imagined its ocean-sized parking lot converted into a mixed-use development. New streets would allow motorists to bypass the roundabout. If residents opposed motorists passing through, Duany suggested installing bollards and giving resident associations the key.
Click here to download PDFs of the Toco Hills design.
Development fronting the Clairmont Heights neighborhood greenspace
Clairmont and North Druid Hills roundabout
Toco Hills, fully realized
In the sketch above, the gray areas are mixed-use developments.
In Atlanta, Duany’s team designed a remarkable concept for a property south of Grant Park and along the Beltline. The designed area would be hugged by a subdivision and an affordable housing complex that Duany says is slowly dwindling. His team envisioned a Savannah-style system of small squares, two of which would have community gardens. The Duany design cut into some of Boulevard Crossing Park, a greenspace set to be created along the Beltline, which Duany said was too large and seemed to be packed with too many amenities. Circulating buses could connect people to the Beltline’s light-rail component, which in turn could connect people to MARTA.
Click here to download PDFs of the Grant Park/Boulevard Crossing design.
New and existing greenspaces created with Duany
New streets created are in purple
Grant Park, fully realized
Duany’s designs aren’t a panacea to metro Atlanta’s woes. To be honest, we’ve built ourselves into a mess. Questions also remain about the effectiveness of designing communities. It’s one thing to build a functional town center — it’s another to give it a “sense” of community. Duany touched on the delicate subject of displacing the current residents in order to build the projects. He suggested developers ensure that those who must move return if they wish. Affordable housing, considered a vital part of any smart-growth project but a sticky topic when it comes to building, would ultimately be decided by the developers and local governments.
And of course, there’s always the question of money. Who’s going to pay for all these pretty designs — and their accompanying infrastructure — to become reality? Duany didn’t get into all that — he wasn’t asked to, after all. But he did a lot of the heavy lifting by providing a blueprint showing how an existing community can make something functional out of itself. It’s up to the existing residents, developers and local governments now.
( Photo and designs courtesy Atlanta Regional Commission/Duany Plater-Zyberk)
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