Atlanta‘s international visitors may grow bewildered navigating its many streets with the “Peachtree” name, so much so that it has come to represent confusion amid the city’s notorious traffic.
But the Atlanta Department of City Planning is hoping that an effort to reinvent a section of the downtown thoroughfare will make Peachtree Street into an iconic destination recognized for thoughtful, human-centered design.
Taking inspiration from Exhibition Road in London, similar concepts in Auckland, New Zealand, and other national and international locations, the Peachtree Shared Space initiative is enlisting public feedback in an effort to harmonize infrastructure with local life.
It’s also aimed at correcting a history of intentional design decisions aimed at entrenching exclusionary practices for the sake of economic growth, according to the heads of Atlanta’s departments of city planning and transportation.
“For a long time, these efforts have encouraged exclusion and reinforced a perception that streets are to be passed through quickly rather than centers of community activity to be joyfully experienced as part of city life,” they released in a concept note, adding that COVID-19 and racial strife in the U.S. have accelerated conversations on how design can help cities achieve equity goals.
While streets like Peachtree have been seen as “plumbing,” conduits that simply manage traffic flows in and out of the city, Director of Design Kevin Bacon told Global Atlanta streets should be considered communal living space.
“Very successful cities that are competitive at an international stage think about the design of the streets as public spaces as something of high architecture [like] you would in a building,” said Mr. Bacon. “How do people experience it, how [does] it support activity, daily life, how does it interact with the building?”
The “Shared Space” terminology was coined by Dutch designers in the 1990s who sought to return balance to car-dominated streets by prioritizing pedestrians and other modes of transit like streetcars and bicycles. Hallmarks of shared spaces include curbless or flush design, as well as paving that distinguishes them from other streets and creates “equitable” space for pedestrians, cars and “furniture” elements like benches, planters, trash bins and more.
Known worldwide for its traffic, perhaps unfairly, Atlanta has also been criticized for the way that buildings downtown have taken life away from the street, especially via skywalks connecting developments like the AmericasMart and Peachtree Center Mall.
Feedback received by designers of the initiative has described Peachtree as “dull and uninspiring,” with the stretch near Woodruff Park praised as the most vibrant in terms of green space and storefronts.
The project outlines four distinct sections from North Avenue to Marietta Street, identifying the Peachtree Center segment as the most promising for fostering increased street-level activity.
Ideas include flush walkways and minimal traffic signage in order to accommodate active living, programming and varied modes of transportation including walking, cycling, cars, e-scooters — and whatever may come in the future. Mr. Bacon emphasized the need for accessibility for all, including those who experience disabilities or homelessness.
“It’s not just about creating a beautiful space, but long-term management, operation, activation and support,” said Mr. Bacon.
Shared spaces are growing in popularity as cities “undo decades of regulation,” he added. “Cities have legislated dependence on following federal policies that treat all streets like highways, and [they] are at risk of losing funding.”
In the United States, Atlanta looks to Bell Street in Seattle and Argyle Street in Chicago, two smaller spaces that have implemented similar concepts.
From the standpoint of influence and opportunity, Mr. Bacon compares Peachtree Street in its 12-mile entirety to Broadway in New York, as it runs through major epicenters Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead and historically served as Atlanta’s “Main Street.”
The stretch covered in the shared space initiative has “the right ingredients,” including “the heart and spine of downtown,” said Mr. Bacon.
Completed in 2012, London’s Exhibition Road — which runs past the Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and Imperial College London — offers a comparable architectural scale to Peachtree and a level of prominence relative to London’s cultural assets.
Multiple streets in Auckland, the New Zealand capital, also exhibit the shared-space mentality, with pedestrians sharing the road with other transit modes on designated streets near residential areas, businesses, restaurants and shops.
Belfast, Northern Ireland; Copenhagen and Barcelona were also listed as inspirations in a gallery on the Peachtree Shared Space website.
The organizers just wrapped up a week of design workshops in January that followed a Sketch Peachtree challenge and other outreach projects. The goal is to move into the funding and implementation phase starting in March.
-With reporting and editing by Trevor Williams
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Learn more at https://www.sharepeachtree.