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Atlanta Skyline
Atlanta Skyline

Atlanta

The Capital of the New South Pulls Itself Together

From the time it was burned by Sherman's army in 1864, Atlanta has been rebuilding and redefining itself, growing from a small town to a full metropolis, from 90,000 residents in 1900 to more than 400,000 in 2000. Today business is booming, and the marketplace has defined this city's development. But the economic boom also created a place where business and neighborhood interests have often found themselves in opposite corners. The fast-paced environment of growth and frenzied superhighway building left the city geographically disconnected, and Atlanta became one of the most car-dependent cities in America. Sidewalks crumbled; public spaces disappeared.

The city that once boasted the nation's first public housing project, dedicated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself as a showcase for his New Deal project, saw that same development succumb to drugs and violent crime in the 1980s. Winning the 1996 Summer Olympics pushed Atlanta to reconsider its livability and address the city's divisions through redevelopment. Businesses and neighborhood groups came together, in CDCs and local initiatives, to link the city center to city neighborhoods through pedestrian corridors, bicycle paths, shuttle buses, and subway stations. New parks were built, reviving green space in the city. A new downtown ballpark and a revitalized midtown have also followed in the past decade. And mixed-use commercial/residential complexes have captured the interest of business executives who had long ignored intown decay, busy with pushing commerce toward the suburbs.