Atlanta, GA: 'The Most Sprawl-Threatened Major Metropolitan Area in the United States.'

Sprawl is a Conservation issue of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Introduction   In The News   Georgia Campaign   Library   Join Or Give   Contacts   Links

 
Introduction

What is Sprawl?  Sprawl is scattered, poorly planned, low density, auto-dependent development beyond the edge of service and employment, which separates where people live from where they shop, work, recreate, and go to school. Sprawl creates negative impacts on communities, the environment, and our overall quality of life.

Roots of Sprawl:		Sprawl Costs Us All!
We created Sprawl through: Government Policies Lifestyle Choices Zoning Procedures Regional Planning Highway Building Housing Policies Competition for Tax Revenue		Sprawl creates problems for everyone: Increases Traffic Wastes Our Tax Money Destroys Trees, Parks, Farms, and Open Space Pollutes Our Air and Water Worsens Flood Damage Crowds Our Children's School

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In The News

Calendar

• Nov 12, 2005:  Citizen's Summit, Perimeter Center Marriott Hotel.

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Georgia Campaign
Working to Protect Trees, Control Traffic, and Save Tax Dollars

Atlanta, GA: "The Most Sprawl-Threatened Major Metropolitan Area in the United States."

During the past two years the Sierra Club's "Georgia Challenge to Sprawl Campaign" has successfully used litigation and public education to convince leaders in the Atlanta region to deal with highway-based sprawl. Now we are organizing local and county-based coalitions of environmental organizations, neighborhood associations, and others to support Smart Growth for just and sustainable communities. We are also building a coalition throughout the Atlanta region for our Smart Growth and Smart Transportation agendas.

Goals:		Priorities:
The Georgia Challenge to Sprawl Campaign is Working to: Protect Trees   Make Streets Safe for People Who Walk and Ride Bicycles   Stop Tax Dollars from being Wasted on Unneeded and Unhealthy Sprawl Developments   Fund Transit and Other Alternatives to Automobile Driving   (In Partnership with the "Atlanta Livable Region Campaign")   Educate Citizens About the Problems of Sprawl by Presenting the "Stop Sprawl" Slideshow to Civic Groups and Other Interested Organizations   Train Citizens to be Effective Advocates for their Community and to Use Environmental Laws to Control Development   Change the Georgia "Department of Asphalt" from the State's Largest Highway Contractor to a True Department of Transportation		Issues Topping The Georgia Challenge to Sprawl Campaign Agenda Include: Stopping the Northern Arc of the Outer Perimeter and Other Sprawl Highways   Enforcing Current Environmental Laws to Protect Air Quality, Trees and Streams   Improving the Planning Process so that Citizens have an Effective Role in Deciding the Future of Their Communities   Conserving Greenspaces and Watersheds   Restoring Our Historic Town Centers

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Library
Recommended Articles, Books, and Other Readings on Sprawl

The following books are recommended essential reading for anyone interested in the potential impacts of urban sprawl. Note: If you know of a book that should be added to this list, please contact us.

Articles

• "Legacy Foes Take Cue From Georgian's Fight." By Brandon Loomis, The Salt Lake Tribune
• "Defining New Urbanism: Beyond Norman Rockwell." By Peter Calthorpe, Special to the Denver Post

Books

• Asphalt Nation : How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back by Jane Holtz Kay
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
• Edge City: Life on the New Frontier by Joel Garreau
• The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler
• Growth Management Principles and Practices by Arthur C. Nelson and James B. Duncan
• Holding Our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland by Tom Daniels, Deborah Bowers
• Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the Twenty-First Century by James Howard Kunstler
• Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability by Myron W. Orfield
• The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream by Peter Calthorpe
• Real Towns: Making your neighborhood work by Harrison Bright Rue
• Save Our Land, Save Our Towns: A Plan for Pennsylvania by Thomas Hylton, Blair Seitz
• Tomorrow by Design: A Regional Design Process for Sustainability by Philip H., Jr. Lewis

Other Readings

• Proposed Clean Air Transportation Plan for the Atlanta Region
• Smart Growth Actions for Livable Regions: GA Sierra Club Action Agenda
• Local Government Actions to Conserve Open Space
• Outer Perimeter Myths

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Contacts

• Sprawl Issue Leader
   
• Webmaster: ( email: [click here] )
   

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Links

General Sprawl Information and Campaigns

• National Sierra Club Sprawl Campaign: www.sierraclub.org/sprawl
• Sprawl Watch: www.sprawlwatch.org
• Sprawl Busters: www.sprawl-busters.com
• American Farmland Trust (Farm and forest preservation): www.farmland.org
• American Forests (Urban forest protection): www.americanforests.org
• National Trust for Historic Preservation (Historic preservation & fighting "big box" retailers): www.nthp.org
• Georgia Chapter Conservation page: http://georgia.sierraclub.org/conservation/
   

Planning and Redevelopment

• American Planning Association: www.planning.org
• Planner's Web: www.plannersweb.com/sprawl
• Center for Neighborhood Technology (Urban redevelopment): www.cnt.org
• Congress for New Urbanism (Urban redevelopment): www.cnu.org
• Surface Transportation Policy Project (Transportation reform): www.transact.org
• CarFree (Vision of a different future): www.carfree.com
   

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Join or Give

Join the Sierra Club, or make a donation. You can join online right now! Or use our mail-in form. When you join or give to the Sierra Club, you help protect this fragile environment we call home. In addition, when you join, your membership will earn you benefits. Details at the Georgia Chapter website.

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