Pres. Peterson Suggests: Go Learn About Your New City

Last month, President Peterson submitted an editorial in the Technique in which he suggested that students take advantage of all of the fantastic things about Atlanta; he, like me, was not fortunate to spend his undergraduate years in a major metro- and cosmopolitan area.

Given the themes of the course, I think the letter is worth reprinting in its entirety. It's also worth discussing on your blog.

Get off campus and get to know the rest of Atlanta

By G. P. “Bud” Peterson , Institute President

Georgia Tech’s legendary heritage is intricately woven into the fabric of Atlanta. In 1885, just 38 years after Atlanta was officially established, the Georgia School of Technology was chartered to provide an education based on the principles of leadership and industrial expansion. The city was growing rapidly, and Georgia Tech was vital in helping to support and encourage further development.

Today, Atlanta is the largest city in the Southeast, home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation and the birthplace of major media networks such as CNN and TBS. Many of Tech’s faculty, staff and students have been integral to this growth and progress. Iconic Atlanta-based companies such as Waffle House, Delta, UPS and Coca-Cola were all founded, led or significantly influenced by Tech graduates.

The 1996 Summer Olympic Games helped to focus the world on Atlanta with Tech serving as both a venue for events and the Olympic Village.

Thirty years earlier, all eyes were on Atlanta, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement, converging on the very streets we travel today. And in 1961, Tech was the first school in the Deep South to peacefully integrate, following a student vote endorsing the acceptance of qualified applicants regardless of race.

Today you can not only walk in the paths of former Olympians and Dr. King, but also enjoy events hosted by our Ferst Center, exhibits featured at our Robert C. Williams Paper Museum and a broad range of athletic events. As you embrace the many opportunities on our campus, I also want to encourage you to become acquainted with your surrounding community that extends far beyond our traditional boundaries.

The Atlanta History Center will give you a great overview of our city. You can also tour the Margaret Mitchell House, where “Gone with the Wind” was written. In addition to the rich history of Atlanta, the city has an abundance of parks, music and theater venues.

The Woodruff Arts Center houses the Atlanta Symphony, the High Museum of Art, and the Alliance Theater. The Fabulous Fox Theater, the Atlanta Ballet, the Martin Luther King Historic Center and The Carter Center are among the many other attractions within a short distance of campus that offer experiences that will broaden your perspective of Georgia’s capital city.

Tech is only a short distance from Piedmont Park, which offers plenty of green space for picnics, social gatherings, concerts, and other events. Val and I walked there from campus last month to the Paul McCartney concert. With views of skyscrapers, a pond and trees, it reminds me of Central Park in New York City.

Not far is the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where you can explore an exhibit by Henry Moore and check out what’s blooming. Or visit the Fernbank Science Center for a different perspective on science!

Atlanta is also home to a wonderful zoo and a world-class aquarium. If you want to see animals in their natural habitat, take a walk at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

For those of you who like to spend your free time at athletic events, Atlanta has plenty of those to offer, too, from the Georgia Dome where the Falcons play to Turner Field, home to the Atlanta Braves.

The Varsity is a cultural icon, but just for a change try Mary Mac’s Tea Room for a taste of home-cooked southern food. You might be tempted to say that some of this is very expensive, but be sure to check out the student rates and volunteer opportunities!

The Atlanta we know today would not be the same without the presence of students like you.

So, while I challenge you to study hard, I also encourage you to seek out opportunities that expand your horizons by taking advantage of the many experiences that are right at your fingertips.

Embrace the many opportunities available on campus, but also look around for other new experiences in the city you now call home.

OpenStreetMap's Atlanta Mapathon

A long time since my last update....my apologies....

Last week, the AJC ran this piece on OpenStreetMap's first ever Mapathon. OpenStreetMap is a nonprofit that "creates and provides free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them," according to their wiki (their blog is also worth reading, and I've added it to my blog roll). Last week, they encouraged as many Atlantans as possible to sign in and add content--all in the the aim of creating "the first comprehensive, open-source electronic map of a U.S. city," according to the AJC.


Check out their Atlanta map....

View Larger Map

Good find, Rajeev!

Rajeev (of Section C3) found this. I deem it great and worthy of discussion.

Blog for Friday

For this week's post, I'd like you to revisit an earlier assignment--reviewing a blog--but now, I'd like to you do it with a bit more depth.

Select any of the blogs (excluding those of your colleagues), and explore its position on what a community should be. This may be implicit, or it may be explicit.

Consider the blog as a multimodal document: how do the different modes available via the blog interact.

Fascinating Article from the WSJ: "Making Suburbia More Livable"

An interesting story from the Wall Street Journal, courtesy of Ms. Brown. The story, "Making Suburbia More Livable," details how suburban life is problematic for the elderly and how suburban towns are "retrofitting" themselves to become more centralized and better meet the needs of their citizens.

Perhaps most interestingly, it focuses on Georgia communities like Fayatteville and Mableton--which (and I had no idea about this) are working with the good folks at the Miami architecture and design firm Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Co. (sound familiar?) to rethink and redesign their communities. The reporter also speaks with Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones' book, Retrofitting Suburbia. The article also includes a brief but really informative podcast--hear actual people use the word "walkability" in a sentence!

Here's an image from the working plan for downtown Mableton. Click here to read their full report: if you're from Mableton or Cobb County, I think you'll find this worthwhile. I've copied the explanation directly from the WSJ.

Local officials are working on plans to fashion a community where people can live more easily throughout their lifetimes. To that end, the plans call for developing several "nodes":

• 1) New housing and retail space and services would enable residents to age in place.
• 2) An arts center would expand an existing amphitheater and add galleries and live-work units for local artists
• 3) A new town center, coupled with greenways, would make Mableton more pedestrian-friendly.
• 4) A civic center would include wellness and fitness centers.
• 5) A historic area would feature restored homes and a commuter rail stop.

New Blog Topic

On Monday, Ms. Brown introduced a wide variety of resources available in the Ga. Tech Library. This week, I would like you to USE one resource either a gadget, a search function, or--gasp!--a book in a way that's relevant to the themes of the course, and then provide an explanation.

SO: you could search for an article, provide a link, and a summary.

OR: you could check out a USB video camera, capture some video of something relevant to the course, explain it (either in text or narration), load it into YouTube, and post it in your blog.

OR: you could use an audio recorder similarly.

Your choice--make it fun and interesting!

UPDATE: Morning Edition's Report on Houston

Thursday morning's report from Houston is even more relevant to the class--partly because Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of a recent study on the city, provides a more balanced presentation of the benefits of sprawl (and, in particular, life in this sprawling city). Among the benefits he enumerates: Sprawl fosters extraordinarily high quality of life that is affordable and achievable. When new development is heavily regulated, he argues, housing options are limited, and thus, become more expensive. However, the environmental costs are high.

Listen to the report here, and continue to pay attention to the map in the previous post.