(ideas.) We didn’t get to this place in American history by chance and we’re not going to get out of it easily. We’ll never move forward if we only listen to the people who built and support the systems and institutions that hold us here. We need new ideas. We […]
(ideas.) Like a lot of people, about two and a half weeks ago my calendar was essentially cleared of meetings and travel. I’m lucky – the only impacts so far […]
(press.) Someone told us the project was too hyped up. I replied that West End Atlanta deserves all the hype that it gets. “It’s aspirational because it needs to be,” […]
(press.) I met Oscar Perry Abello at the SOCAP Conference in San Francisco last September where there was a lot of talk about the federal government’s new and controversial “Opportunity […]
(press. video.) “Twenty years ago this month, Ryan Gravel submitted a master’s thesis that would transform Atlanta,” begins Georgia Tech’s Stacy Braukman for an article titled “The Man With A […]
(press.) A friend of mine saw my name and the byline and thought, “Oh no, he’s going to rip Ryan to shreds.” Bill Torpy is known as a tough columnist at the AJC, but even tough guys love a great story. Thanks, Bill for continuing coverage of this incredible journey […]
This December marks the 20th anniversary of my Atlanta Beltline thesis (dang!) and, as I’ve said, even with all of its challenges, I’m damn proud of the progress we’ve made. […]
Q: What the hell are you doing these days? Seems like you’re spread pretty thin. (faq.) When people ask me what I’m doing, I usually narrow my answer based on context because if I tell them everything, it sounds like too much. NO – I’m not formally involved with […]
(ideas.) Twenty years ago, I never imagined we would actually build the Atlanta Beltline. I just wanted to graduate – which I did. I finished my Beltline thesis in December […]
(press.) It was transit week and WABE’s Rose Scott was out on the Atlanta Beltline for a special edition of A Closer Look called “From The Northside Trail To The […]
[press.] Charlotte’s NPR Station came searching for YIMBY advocates – Yes In My Back Yard – people fighting FOR density in their community as a critical approach to addressing the escalating costs of housing. David Boraks found some YIMBYs planning the future of Hulsey Yard on the Atlanta Beltline. “Finding […]
(press.videos. ) I enjoyed sitting down with Gail O’Neill and Felipe Barral for their show Collective Knowledge. Our wide-ranging conversation is captured in this half-hour episode: first up is Paris […]
[press.] Robert Kunzig’s cover story for National Geographic’s April issue was this hot take on the future of cities: “These five cities are taking bold steps to rein in sprawl.” Ok, so nobody is surprised to hear that Atlanta is the poster child for sprawl, but it’s a big surprise […]
(ideas.) At the end of this post, I’m going to ask you to help Generator get off the ground with a tax-deductible donation. I believe in this concept more than […]
[press.] Jim Burress found us hanging around the future Generator and recorded this interview for WABE 90.1 – Atlanta’s NPR Station, titled “Ryan Gravel’s Next Big Idea: Eat, Drink, Save […]
(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 […]
Q: How does transit on the Atlanta Beltline advance equity in Atlanta communities? (faq. ideas.) This is the question that frustrates me the most. For the physical project to be […]
(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. […]
Q: What do you think about the More MARTA plan? (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 […]
(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 […]
Q: Can you remind me the history of transit on the Atlanta Beltline? (faq.) Our collective memory of the Atlanta Beltline’s story is important – especially regarding its more […]
(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 […]
Q: Why not just put BRT on the Atlanta Beltline? Wouldn’t that be cheaper? (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, […]
(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.) 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.) 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 […]
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.) 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 […]
(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 […]
Q: Why did you resign from the Board of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership? (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 […]
(press.) With the tongue-in-cheek headline “A Glorified Sidewalk, and the Path to Transform Atlanta,” New York Times’ Richard Fausset digs into a cultural shift brought on by the Atlanta Beltline, […]
Q: The Atlanta Beltline’s vision is so amazing. Why should we settle for less when we don’t have to? (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 […]
(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.) 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 […]
(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 […]
(ideas.work.videos) The kind of infrastructure we build matters to the way we live our lives. If we build single-purpose transportation infrastructure that only works for some people some of the […]
(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 […]
(press.) Our story is recounted for Coca-Cola’s internal media, “Inside the Beltline: How a Grad School Thesis Became an Engine for Urban Revitalization and Economic Growth in Atlanta,” by Jay Croft. Excerpt: “Atlanta prides itself on being known as the home of Martin Luther King, Jr., the 1996 Olympic Games […]
(press.) Nice article by OZY writer Sanjena Sathian – USA Today picked up her story, “The transit makeover of Atlanta” at the close of 2014. Excerpt: “Everyone, from my mother to the mayor to environmentalists to the White House, proclaims that this unlikely city, with its long history of segregation […]
(press.) In its December 2014 cover story, “Unbroken Circle” by Susan Percy, the case is made for the Atlanta Beltline as “a unifying force, built on the very railroads that […]
(ideas.) With the undeniable success of the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail and this November’s groundbreaking of the long-anticipated Westside Trail, we have much to be thankful for. Of course behind […]
(ideas.) This text first appeared in ideas+buildings. “Equity Through Sports + Art: A Design Dialogue in Atlanta.” Read the whole thing here and watch short video of excerpts from the event. Excerpt: “I think this kind of thoughtful and inclusive transition toward a better decision-making process – beyond just sports […]
