4 ms·

What an interesting essay. I've lived in Atlanta for 12 years and I can't really figure out a message it's trying to send. One of the most up and coming industr

What an interesting essay. I've lived in Atlanta for 12 years and I can't really figure out a message it's trying to send. One of the most up and coming industries here is film, and I know people in that industry and have spent time marinating in it, but it's not the siren call that riches is in NYC. Atlanta seems to still be finding its identity. All the industries are nascent, it always seems just on the cusp of a big transformation. I have a theory about cities, that property values are largely constrained by geography as the first and practically only factor, and Atlanta has no geographical limitations that jack up prices. As a result, property has always been comparatively cheap. Atlanta seems to be a big sponge, not even close to hitting scaling limits. I feel like you could almost pour the same amount of wealth that NYC has into the area and it still won't look like even Chicago. It'll just sprawl outwards into adjacent metro areas like Alpharetta or Decatur. Even the city centers here, Downtown, Midtown, and increasingly Buckhead, feel like three distinct cities rather than part of a whole. As a result it simply won't ever come to have a more coherent identity and message than it did in the nineties with rap and the music industry.

mlevental 9y ago
how's the tech scene in atl? i live a little south of the border (with fl) and i'm considering a move. i've lived in NYC and it was great so i'm inclined to move back there but atl has piqued my interest lately.
- vinceguidry 9y ago
  It's pretty good, obviously not going to be as good as NYC, but there's still a tech worker shortage here like there is everywhere else.
- beauzero 9y ago
  Cost of living is very low if you are careful where you live although that is starting to change. Traffic is starting to be a problem...if we could get rail out 20,85,75, and further north on 400 it would bring a huge geography into play and really take off. So far it hasn't.
madcaptenor 9y ago
Clearly the message that Atlanta sends is "you should sit in traffic". (I'm joking, but I feel like this might be the kernel of something - most notably Atlanta's long-standing problems with segregation and resistance to public transit.)
- nopreserveroot 9y ago
  I think it's "You should get brunch."
  - madcaptenor 9y ago
    Except not on Sundays before 12:30.
  - matwood 9y ago
    That's a southern thing in general. Brunch is probably the most common way I hang out/see friends over any other time.
artimaeis 9y ago
I had a professor some years ago who summed up Atlanta perfectly for me - "[...] it's the biggest small town in America". Having spent the past 15 years in the region I think he hit the nail on the head. I believe the biggest message Atlanta is sending out is one of music - musical arts are alive and kicking in Atlanta in ways that are very different to the other big music cities. I'm really hopeful that the general creative vibes continue to flourish there.
- magicbuzz 9y ago
  That's really interesting. As a budding guitarist, I've often wondered what are the 'music' cities in the US and around the world.
- amyjess 9y ago
  > I had a professor some years ago who summed up Atlanta perfectly for me - "[...] it's the biggest small town in America". My friends and I regularly make similar comments about Dallas. I very rarely meet someone new without finding out that they are somehow connected to somebody I know. Sayings like "Dallas is the world's biggest small town" and "I know I shouldn't be surprised, but how do the hell do those two know each other?" are common utterances among people I know. Also, for people I have a ton of oddball connections with, "Dallas is the world's biggest small town, and it's all [name]'s fault".
  - madcaptenor 9y ago
    The same "small town" thing happens in Philadelphia, where I used to live. This might be a property of cities of roughly that size.
matthewmcg 9y ago
I've lived in Atlanta for nine years and it seems like the message is "be nice." Really. Certainly there are exceptions, but there is an ambient friendliness here that is missing in other large cities.
e_d_e_v_at 9y ago
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I feel like SF and NY have the same thing going on. NY has the Boroughs, SF has distinct neighborhoods that have their own feel. That said, I could travel through all of Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead in a given day (in fact, have bicycled through all of them in the span of a couple hours). Eating, dining, or visiting friends in any of these doesn't feel any more distant than a trip on one of the other Metros. Frankly, I don't want or think Atlanta should have "one identitiy". It's a melting pot, and I hope it stays that way.
amyjess 9y ago
> Atlanta seems to still be finding its identity. All the industries are nascent, it always seems just on the cusp of a big transformation. I have a theory about cities, that property values are largely constrained by geography as the first and practically only factor, and Atlanta has no geographical limitations that jack up prices. As a result, property has always been comparatively cheap. I've observed similar things about Dallas. Property values are going up here a little, but Dallas is still a really cheap place to live compared to any major coastal city or even hilly places like Austin, and the recent growth in property values is largely because a surprisingly large number of companies have all decided to relocate here in a very short span of time, and the housing industry hasn't caught up yet. I expect this trend won't last: eventually there will be enough new housing built in exurbs like Frisco and Prosper (and small towns like Celina being turned into exurbs) that it'll counterbalance the influx of new residents.

mlevental 9y ago

how's the tech scene in atl? i live a little south of the border (with fl) and i'm considering a move. i've lived in NYC and it was great so i'm inclined to move back there but atl has piqued my interest lately.

vinceguidry 9y ago
It's pretty good, obviously not going to be as good as NYC, but there's still a tech worker shortage here like there is everywhere else.
beauzero 9y ago
Cost of living is very low if you are careful where you live although that is starting to change. Traffic is starting to be a problem...if we could get rail out 20,85,75, and further north on 400 it would bring a huge geography into play and really take off. So far it hasn't.

madcaptenor 9y ago

Clearly the message that Atlanta sends is "you should sit in traffic". (I'm joking, but I feel like this might be the kernel of something - most notably Atlanta's long-standing problems with segregation and resistance to public transit.)

nopreserveroot 9y ago
I think it's "You should get brunch."
- madcaptenor 9y ago
  Except not on Sundays before 12:30.
- matwood 9y ago
  That's a southern thing in general. Brunch is probably the most common way I hang out/see friends over any other time.

artimaeis 9y ago

I had a professor some years ago who summed up Atlanta perfectly for me - "[...] it's the biggest small town in America". Having spent the past 15 years in the region I think he hit the nail on the head. I believe the biggest message Atlanta is sending out is one of music - musical arts are alive and kicking in Atlanta in ways that are very different to the other big music cities. I'm really hopeful that the general creative vibes continue to flourish there.

magicbuzz 9y ago
That's really interesting. As a budding guitarist, I've often wondered what are the 'music' cities in the US and around the world.
amyjess 9y ago
> I had a professor some years ago who summed up Atlanta perfectly for me - "[...] it's the biggest small town in America". My friends and I regularly make similar comments about Dallas. I very rarely meet someone new without finding out that they are somehow connected to somebody I know. Sayings like "Dallas is the world's biggest small town" and "I know I shouldn't be surprised, but how do the hell do those two know each other?" are common utterances among people I know. Also, for people I have a ton of oddball connections with, "Dallas is the world's biggest small town, and it's all [name]'s fault".
- madcaptenor 9y ago
  The same "small town" thing happens in Philadelphia, where I used to live. This might be a property of cities of roughly that size.

matthewmcg 9y ago

I've lived in Atlanta for nine years and it seems like the message is "be nice." Really. Certainly there are exceptions, but there is an ambient friendliness here that is missing in other large cities.

e_d_e_v_at 9y ago

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I feel like SF and NY have the same thing going on. NY has the Boroughs, SF has distinct neighborhoods that have their own feel. That said, I could travel through all of Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead in a given day (in fact, have bicycled through all of them in the span of a couple hours). Eating, dining, or visiting friends in any of these doesn't feel any more distant than a trip on one of the other Metros. Frankly, I don't want or think Atlanta should have "one identitiy". It's a melting pot, and I hope it stays that way.

amyjess 9y ago

> Atlanta seems to still be finding its identity. All the industries are nascent, it always seems just on the cusp of a big transformation. I have a theory about cities, that property values are largely constrained by geography as the first and practically only factor, and Atlanta has no geographical limitations that jack up prices. As a result, property has always been comparatively cheap. I've observed similar things about Dallas. Property values are going up here a little, but Dallas is still a really cheap place to live compared to any major coastal city or even hilly places like Austin, and the recent growth in property values is largely because a surprisingly large number of companies have all decided to relocate here in a very short span of time, and the housing industry hasn't caught up yet. I expect this trend won't last: eventually there will be enough new housing built in exurbs like Frisco and Prosper (and small towns like Celina being turned into exurbs) that it'll counterbalance the influx of new residents.