BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE EASTSIDE TRAIL? - CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENHANCEMENT OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND AMENITY USE ALONG THE ATLANTA BELTLINE

Abstract

The Atlanta BeltLine is a multi-faceted, large-in-scope recreational greenway changing the urban fabric of Atlanta, Georgia. With Atlanta’s long history of racist and exclusionary urban development, the BeltLine is an opportunity for current planning parties to recognize the city’s flawed past, and build an active and inclusionary future. The paper argues that to do this the Atlanta BeltLine Incorporated, and affiliated leadership, must better their community outreach tactics in order to gain accurate insight as to which community needs are and are not being met by the built design on the BeltLine. To understand how the BeltLine could engage in better equitable planning practices, twenty-seven BeltLine users on the Eastside Trail were interviewed. Though it is difficult to generalize from a small sample size, differences in symbolic attitudes toward the government and leadership in general were evident amongst white respondents and black respondents. The aim of this research is to provide a basis of information about use of and community feelings about the BeltLine in order to hopefully initiate discussions about equitable planning, in Atlanta and elsewhere.