Urban Sprawl: Atlanta and it's Metro Area

Urban Sprawl: Atlanta and It's Metro Area

By: Alexis Martin

Summary

Urban sprawl is increasing at a rapid rate and it comes with both positive and negative effects.

It will take continued planning to help remedy the effects already created by urban sprawl in Atlanta but it can be assured that with the right management we can protect what is left of Georgia’s water and air quality and there will only be growth in the high quality of life its citizens have become accustomed to.

Thank You!

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• Has your hometown experienced sprawl? If so from what city and how so? If not is it possible, why or why not?
• What are some alternative solutions that the city of Atlanta could use to lessen its sprawl?
• How can you do your part in lessening the effects that sprawl has on the environment?

Q & A

Urban Sprawl... What's that?

Solutions

Urban Sprawl is the uncontrolled spreading of developments toward undeveloped land caused by poor planning.

Something about the air here

The Tom Moreland Interchange at the intersection of Interstate 285 and Interstate 85, also known as Spaghetti Junction. This is a result of urban sprawl.

Metropolitan Atlanta is the least densely populated metropolitan area in the United States, with only 1,370 persons per square mile, compared with 5,400 persons per square mile in Los Angeles.

Pros Vs. Cons

Pros:

• Advancement in Water treatment
• "American Dream"/ Generally happier people
• Jobs
• Accessibility to necessities.

Low density sprawl

Cons:

• Air Quality
• Water issues
• Deforestation and loss of vegetation and wildlife

• large residential subdivisions.
• houses are situated on relatively large lots
• Must drive nearly everywhere they go.
• accessibility to the city

Low-density sprawl can lead to more land issues compared to areas where sprawl is densely populated.

Sprawl developments that threaten the rural areas and forest :

• highways
• strip centers
• shopping malls
• subdivisions

• Only 3% of the city’s population utilize the MARTA
• The metropolitan Atlanta region has more than 16,000 miles of roads and is the 15th worst traffic congestion in the country.
• Due to the congestion and constant traffic the air quality in Atlanta and its metro areas is constantly worsening.
• In the metropolitan Atlanta area on-road cars and trucks account for 58% of emissions of nitrogen oxides and 47% of hydrocarbon emissions.
• The health hazards of air pollution are well known. Ozone is an airways irritant. Higher ozone levels are associated with higher incidence and severity of respiratory symptoms.

Deforestation and loss of vegetation increase the regions “ heat island” effect, which can cause an increase of 12 degrees in heavily paved areas of Atlanta.

Atlanta has started to promote its own “smart growth” projects in which home and businesses are going to be walking distance from each other. The city wants to focus on cutting the need for individual transportation and by doing so also cutting down on air pollution. The most promising news for the city comes from the 2010 census which shows us that people are starting to move back into the city. Atlanta's population increased by more than 1 million residents between 2000 and 2010.

The key to low density sprawl is that it makes people happy.People like that metro Atlanta offers them a place to call their own, a chance for their own shot at the “American Dream”.

Atlanta

Then and Now

Low Density Sprawl

In 2005 Atlanta lost 500 acres of open space each week to development. Sprawl in Atlanta has pushed housing, population, and jobs deeper into the suburbs

The problem is that Atlanta is not in a water-rich area of the state, it's land locked, and it sprawls across the tops of multiple river systems but Georgia has been in a Tristate water war with Alabama and Florida over who should control how much and what parts of the river basins.

Although sprawl uses more land than necessary, the yards filled with trees and shrubs absorb dust and chemicals, so smaller amounts of pollutants escape into the air and water. In contrast, in dense urban areas buildings, roads, and parking lots take up a higher percentage of the land, leaving little of the natural environment to absorb pollutants.

Paulding county is one of the top three fastest growing counties in Georgia. Paulding's population of 142,000 has seen a 75 percent growth rate since 2000. In 2014, Paulding County opened a new hospital due to the need created by the growth of the county

"The population density was very significant in contributing to the need to build a new hospital,"- Mark Haney, president of WellStar Paulding Hospital

The Chattahoochee River supplies drinking water to half of all Georgians, the problem is that the Chattahoochee is also threatened by pollutants from; suburban growth, inadequate or aging water, sewer systems, runoff from paved surfaces, agricultural lands and lawns, erosion from construction sites, and seepage from septic tanks.

Also, even though low density sprawl is a major reason for water pollution, it is the reason behind the advancements that have taken place in the treatment of wastewater and biosolids.

What's up with the water?

Examples of smog in Atlanta and the metro area

Sandy springs

View of Downtown from 20

Low density sprawl specifically increases the cost of maintaining roads, streets, sewers, water supplies, storm drain, and schools.

Through the creation of problems low density sprawl has also caused the discovery of unrelated solutions. Low density sprawl helps create jobs and gives people easier accessibility to things that were not as accessible prior.

Low density sprawl requires people to drive everywhere causing air pollution

but..it also helps create jobs for those in the auto industry.

The Environmental Protection Agency has imposed significant fines on the city of Atlanta for spills and leaks from its overloaded sewer system.

Introduction

Urban sprawl in Georgia has some of the most significant and widespread environmental impacts in the nation. According to the U.S. census, between 2000 and 2010 Georgia's population increased 18.3 percent, nearly twice the national average of 9.7 percent. Atlanta is the largest city in Georgia, housing 4.34% (census.gov) of the state's total population. Atlanta has more people per square mile than most cities in Georgia have over-all. Although growth and development of a state are welcomed, if the growth continues at the rapid speeds we have seen in the last decade go unchecked the already major environmental impacts will only continue to multiply and it will prove harder to preserve the quality of life Georgia citizens have come accustomed.

design by Dóri Sirály for Prezi