PBS Looks At Sprawl, Housing, Architecture

PBS' new series on how Americans live their lives uses Atlanta as a case study to focus on sprawl, low-income housing, shopping, and architecture.

1 minute read

May 5, 2002, 7:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"The Atlanta metropolitan area is now in its third consecutive decade of rapid growth: In jobs, in residents, in wealth, and in size. And it's struggling to control the sprawl. There are no rivers or mountain ranges, no natural boundaries to block Atlanta's expansion. It has absorbed all or part of 13 counties in north central Georgia... About 500 acres of land are bulldozed here every week to make way for new development. In the last 20 years, the population has doubled, but land is being developed far faster, so the number of miles driven by the average Atlantan more than doubled." The PBS website includes a full transcript of the show, plus streaming video and audio.

Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 in PBS

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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