Creating Everyday Neighborhoods:
Redeveloping Urban Nowhere Zones Conference
September 21, 2006 ~ Atlanta, GA
Please visit the "Session Descriptions and Proceedings" and "Everyday Neighborhoods Resources" pages from the left menu for more information about Everyday Neighborhoods.
Communities throughout the country are contemplating the redevelopment of their nowhere zone, the holes in the community fabric. At one time these nowhere zones were vital shopping centers or active industrial districts, but today they are vacant or nearly vacant. They may sever neighborhoods, encourage disinvestment, increase undesirable activities, and act as a drag on a city’s tax revenues.
Many nowhere zones are being reinvented, but are they creating everyday neighborhoods? Everyday Neighborhoods are places for people of all ages and income levels…places where sustainability principles regarding the interaction of social, environmental, and economic activities and needs are used to address urban challenges.
This one-day conference presented the elements of Everyday Neighborhoods—good urban design, mixed uses, pedestrian friendly and transit-oriented, equity, lifecycle community-orientation, and various aspects of sustainability-environmental, health, and economic. The conference provided a venue for a multi-disciplinary discussion of the barriers to creating Everyday Neighborhoods and the strategies to overcome them.
This conference was designed for a broad audience, in particular: land developers, planners, urban designers, economic developers, public officials, architects, community-activists, environmentalists, financers, and public health practitioners. The focus was primarily on redeveloping urban nowhere zones, although the scale of the urban area will vary.
If you would like to receive more information contact the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development by email at cqgrd@coa.gatech.edu or 404.385.5133.
