People, street trees, & buildings share a comparable life expectancy, about 80 years

Building life expectancy:  "There's a lot of spread in that. The average residential building lasts about  150 years, but the average Walmart or a (not so hot) apartment complex last 10 or 15 years but the average is 80 years." Paul Knight's Streets Lecture - Part 1 



Please Come see part 2: Streets: Designing a Master Street Plan (Part II) on Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30 pm at the Atlanta City Studio on the 2nd floor of Ponce City Market.

"Streets" is one the Architecture Tourists favorite subjects, streets as public spaces, making them more fun, less boring, more democratic.

It's free. I'll be there. Please say hey. Don't let the word "lecture" scare you off. This will be fun.

Paul L. Knight, architectural and urban designer at Historical Concepts and president of Douglas C. Allen Institute for the Study of Cities, will present his second lecture about Streets on Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30 pm at the Studio. Last month we learned why streets are the most critical and long-lasting components of our cities. If you missed it, you can view a recording of the lecture below. This month, Paul Knight returns to explain how to analyze the best examples of American town planning, garnering design lessons and principles that can be used for future development.The free second seminar focuses on master street planning and design. Come join us to learn how streets can improve our cities. Please come early--it was a packed house last time and we ran out of chairs.

Here's part 1, about 38 minutes. Part 3 to be announced soon.




What is the Douglas C. Allen Institute for the Study of Cities?

1981 - Georgia Power Moved Four Blocks & Abandoned Downtown

All the folks I knew at Georgia Power / Southern Company worked at the corner of Peachtree and Baker. In 1981 they moved to the new Georgia Power Corporate Headquarters. Georgia Power moved out of downtown while technically staying downtown. Many of our big corporate citizens follow suit. They aren't coming back downtown.


I like the place OK. I've been to a meeting in the top floor boardroom, nice with a terrific view. Way better than the Jackson Street bridge.

But these folks aren't on Peachtree any more.


Seemed like a cool idea at the time. The utilities were growing with the region, security was a big issue, and the energy crises. They decided to build an energy conscious landmark between the downtown connector and the Civic Center.

And hey, nearly 300,000 vehicle occupants see it every day.


Round here you need a fence and wall.


Shuttles park here.


Pedestrian entrance with nice private park to the right.


Lot's of fences. A suburban office park.


But more private.

This has bugged me for 35 years.

Would they do this today? I think not. They'd just build in Midtown like NCR or at Permeinter like State Farm or Sandy Springs like Mercedes-Benz.