to the downtown atlanta community,
December 1, 2017
After a full year of planning and meeting, mapping and imagining, Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District are excited to present the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan, a blueprint for the next fifteen years of growth and change Downtown.
In many ways, this plan, and the collaborative, community-driven process we embarked on together to develop the plan, embody CAP and ADID’s reasons for being. For more than 75 years, CAP and its many partners have worked to envision the best path forward for Downtown, build support for that vision, and then coordinate efforts toward a Downtown that reflects our aspirations; for the past 20 years, ADID has been our tactical arm—working each day to make sure everyone’s experience in Downtown Atlanta is a pleasant one.
Put simply, we at CAP/ADID bring people together to digest data, dream, make decisions, and take action. Over the past year, in the context of the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan, we met with you, your colleagues, clients, customers, neighbors, fellow students, and guests visiting Downtown. We listened, paired research and data with stories and anecdotes, and together arrived at a new vision to guide our work going forward. To be certain, we remain committed to fostering Downtown as the vibrant heart of the region, host to a robust economic climate, a livable environment, and home to our diverse Downtown community.
But new priorities have emerged too, namely a desire to cultivate Downtown as a collection of neighborhoods that offer the best of city living—housing choice within close proximity to good jobs; walkable and bikeable streets; access to arts, culture, history, and local restaurants and retail showcasing the best of Atlanta; and a greener, more active public realm that invites all who live, work, or are just passing through Downtown to linger and fall in love with Downtown for the first time, or all over again. In the years to come, we will use this plan to guide advocacy efforts and policy decisions, redevelopment projects and infrastructure investments, all calibrated to help Downtown Atlanta thrive in the context of the region’s projected growth, and do to so in ways that remain true to the community’s vision.
Thank you to everyone who made time over the past year to think about the Downtown of tomorrow. Whether you took a survey, attended a meeting (or several), shared an idea (or many), or served on a committee, your contributions help ground this plan for Downtown’s future in the voice and vision of our community. As you will see, your words (and in some cases your faces) populate the pages of the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan.
Without your commitment to the heart of our city and the energy you brought to the planning process, the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan would fall flat. Much like the planning process, implementing our shared plan for Downtown will be a collective effort. Together, with our many planning partners and your sustained involvement, we will work to make this plan’s vision a reality as Downtown becomes a thriving full-service neighborhood—a place for everyone and where everyone wants to be.
With gratitude and anticipation,
A.J. Robinson, President Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. / Atlanta Downtown Improvement District
ii to thedowntown atlanta community,
DRAFT Introduction 1 Vision & 41 Goals Downtown 23 Today
Cover Photo by Lauren Holley Source) Central Atlanta Progress Strategies 46
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