(press.) It’s a time-tested strategy to make sure community engagement delivers the recommendations you want. MARTA’s project evaluation, handful of meetings, and unscientific online survey were designed to do exactly that, and it worked. Amy Wenk captured my initial reaction in this story for the Atlanta Business Chronicle: “As vote […]
Q: It looks too tight – how does transit even fit on the Atlanta Beltline? (faq.) A: Transit has always been central to this concept. In most places, transit is […]
[press.] People talk about the Atlanta Beltline like it’s a single project impacting a single community – but it’s a much larger project than that. The Atlanta Beltline’s northside stands […]
This article was first posted as an op-ed in the Atlanta Business Chronicle: Ryan Gravel Viewpoint: Speak up now if you want transit on all of the Beltline (ideas.) I travel all over the world to talk about the Atlanta Beltline. From Singapore to Sandy Springs, the broad vision that frames […]
(ideas.) With advance apologies and love for my hard-working brothers and sisters in transportation planning, the more I look at the More MARTA plan, the madder and sicker I get. […]
(ideas.) This was never the plan, but two thirds of the Beltline may forever move forward without transit. That’s because MARTA is only committed to one third of the long-promised […]
(faq. ideas.) This is the question that frustrates me the most. For the physical project to be enjoyed equitably, we have to do more than build the physical project. We […]
(ideas.) Dear City Hall, Dear MARTA. Dear decision makers, dear agency staffers, dear community organizers, dear ordinary citizens who may not have been around when we got started in 2001. […]
(faq.) A year and a half after the November 2016 referendum, MARTA released its draft plan for how to spend $2.5 billion of City of Atlanta taxpayer money on transit – a plan dubbed “More MARTA.” I guess since I was outspoken about it before the news came out, and since […]
(ideas.) This call isn’t only about transit. It’s a much wider call-to-action because without transit – soon and urgently – we won’t get the Beltline we’ve been talking about all […]
(faq.) Our collective memory of the Atlanta Beltline’s story is important – especially regarding its more challenging aspects like equity, affordability, and transit. We’ve made many commitments over the years, […]
(ideas.) Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that we need to make our case for transit again, but I am. Honestly – we’ve been putting colored dots on maps, hand-writing community […]
(faq.) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a high-capacity mode of transit that employs many train-like features to improve service efficiency and passenger experience. These include traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, multiple-door boarding, platform-level boarding, and stations that are similar to light-rail. BRT systems typically, but not always, operate within […]
[press.] At the Southface Energy Institute’s Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable on October 6, I joined Hannah Palmer, author of Flight Path, to discuss our books, the future of Atlanta’s southside, and […]
[press.] Inspired by the Atlanta City Design’s inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement, Diana Budds pens this thoughtful piece for Co.Design – “Atlanta Is Fighting Urban Inequality–With An Idea From […]
[press.] Following the September 2017 unveiling of the Atlanta City Design, Jared Brey covered what it means for Atlanta in this article for Next City. “New Atlanta Planning Book Takes Cue From Martin Luther King Jr.” Excerpt > Atlanta City Design, unveiled earlier this month, is meant to inform and […]
(research.) I had the good fortune to be invited to Christchurch, New Zealand to participate in a series of conversations supporting the re-imagination of the city’s residential red zone – […]
(ideas.) I think it is important we acknowledge that our current national crisis is playing out exactly as expected. Although shocking, the news from the last few days is only […]
(press.) I had another chance to talk to WABE’s Rose Scott and Jim Burress on A Closer Look about Atlanta’s population growth and its role in our affordability crisis. “BeltLine […]
(press.work.) It has been an honor to work with Commissioner Tim Keane on this remarkable aspiration for Atlanta’s future. It’s called the Atlanta City Design – Aspiring to the Beloved Community and Thomas Wheatley captured this brief synopsis for Atlanta Magazine. “Ryan Gravel and Tim Keane are sketching a smarter […]
(press.) In Atlanta, we talk a lot about the Atlanta Beltline’s role in the economic and cultural forces of gentrification, but it’s helpful to put it in context with projects in other cities across the country. New York City’s High Line emerged at the same time as ours, and in […]
(ideas.) I was talking with a friend about the political power of intolerance the other day. She was making the case that our national election exposed the prejudice of a […]
(ideas.) Here’s the TED talk I did in New York in October 2016. > “When we look today in wonder and disgust at the metropolis sprawled before us, we wonder […]
(ideas.) Nearly three weeks later and I’ve successfully spared you my take on the debilitating results of our national election. I’ve been grappling with the populist sentiment that seems to […]
UPDATE > GREAT NEWS! Both ballot referenda passed on election day. While there remains a lot of uncertainty about our national politics, at least locally we will have solid resources […]
(press.) Writing for Next City, Jen Kinney compares worldwide riverfront revitalization efforts to an emerging effort by Chattahoochee NOW. In “Atlanta’s Waterfront Access May Soon Improve,” she outlines the group’s […]
(press.) To be clear, I’m not walking away from the project itself, and I never framed progress as an “either/or.” But in “A Beltline Champion Walks Away,” writer Zach Mortice well describes for Landscape Architecture Magazine, inherent tensions between the benefits and challenges of change. Excerpt: “Most of all, Gravel […]
(work.) In early 2016, Sixpitch founder Ryan Gravel completed a collaborative effort with the staff and board at Chattahoochee NOW that culminated with “Vision53” – a document that outlines a […]
(work.) In early 2016, Sixpitch founder Ryan Gravel began working with Tim Keane, Commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Planning and Community Development, on the Atlanta City Design. Supported by urban […]
(work.) We’re looking for a talented, reliable, self-starting urban designer able to work part-time contract on cool projects. Work is mostly graphic, (Adobe Creative Cloud), including district plans, diagrams, and renderings. Style is important. Atlanta preferred but not required. Meet during business hours. Rates are starting-range but negotiable. Send inquiries […]
(press.) New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman pens “In ‘By the People,’ Design for the Underserved and Overlooked” – a review of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s latest […]
(faq.) Yesterday, after weeks of deliberation, Nathaniel Smith and I resigned from the board of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership. He’s the Founder and Chief Equity Officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity. While this was not an easy decision for either one of us, our earnest hope is that it […]
(faq.) Related to my recent “Our Beltline” post, here’s a specific example. Below is my letter to the Inman Park Neighborhood Association Board regarding the redevelopment of 670-690 DeKalb Avenue and the future Atlanta Beltline tunnel. >> Ryan Gravel UPDATE > Thanks to an amazing collaboration between North American Properties and […]
(ideas.) The question of whose Beltline we’re building in Atlanta keeps coming up among my friends and on social media. It’s a fair question – especially when some recent decisions […]
(press.) With the release of Where We Want To Live, CityLab’s Richard Florida and Ryan Gravel engage in conversation about “Building Infrastructure for More Inclusive Communities.” Excerpt: “I get the fear of big ideas, but I think it’s more about a distrust for our ability to implement big ideas according […]
(press.) In anticipation of the release of Where We Want to Live – Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Generation of Cities, Atlanta Magazine published two pieces in their March issue. […]
(work.) We’re counting down the days. After many years, “Where We Want to Live – Reclaiming Infrastructure for a New Generation of Cities,” launches March 15! Your first chance to get a signed copy is at the launch event the very next day. On MARCH 16 at 7:00 pm, A […]
(press.) New York Times contributing columnist Allison Arieff, who is also the Editorial Director at SPUR in San Francisco, penned this Op-Ed in early 2015, “What Happened to the Great […]
(ideas.) This text first appeared as a letter in the Terminus issue of Art Papers, (January/February 2016), for which I was a guest co-editor. The original, along with a letter by Art Papers Editor and Artistic Director Victoria Camblin, can be found here. Also check out the entire Terminus issue […]
(research.) Deb Eddy came to town in the summer of 2015 just to check out the Atlanta Beltline. By her account she was inspired – and she went home to […]
(work.) Six ideas worth reading about, every six weeks or so. Get your fix with six links to stories and ideas about the future of cities. That’s it. Sign up here. >> Ryan Gravel The first issue will be posted here after January 1, 2016.
(research.) It took me a little while to figure out what I was looking at when I took a short trip to Denver and saw the 130-year-old High Line Canal. […]
(research.) The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy asked me to meet them in Baltimore to share our Atlanta Beltline story. Also inspired by similar projects across the country, RTC and some civic leaders there are looking at a 35-mile loop around the city. Starting right at the Inner Harbor in the heart of […]
(research.) Bernard Zyscovich told me about his “Plan Z” idea for the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami, so on my next trip, I made a point to tackle it. It’s a […]
(research.) Some of the controversy in Miami around real estate development in the railroad that might one day carry the Ludlam Trail reminded me of an early challenge we had on the Atlanta Beltline, but I hadn’t seen it for myself. I finally made it out there on a borrowed […]
(research.) We took our kids on an autumn trip to see Fallingwater, the masterpiece by Frank Lloyd Wright. While we were there, we visited the nearby town of Ohiopyle and […]
(videos.) A few weeks ago, as I was digging through a decade and a half of Atlanta Beltline memories, I came across a digital memory of our early movement in […]
(research.) I went to share our story in Milwaukee as part of Newaukee’s YP Week and while I was there, I met with some people working on a reclaimed section of the old “Milwaukee Road” railroad just north of downtown. Roughly half its 1.2-mile length has already been converted into […]
(press.) Leading into Newaukee’s 2015 YP Week, Urban Milwaukee published “How the Beltline Project Is Changing Atlanta” by Andrew McCann. Excerpt: “As a public space, the Beltline is already performing a variety of functions. The first and most significant is its rapidly developing role as a connective structure between Atlanta’s […]
(research.) One of the hottest things in Miami can’t be found in South Beach. Extending south-easterly from Brickell to Coral Gables and South Miami is a 1980s-era elevated transit line. […]
