![]() ![]() Last July, Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that Atlanta had been illegally taking water from Lake Lanier, the principal source of the region's water supply. It should come as no surprise that Atlanta's 10.8% unemployment rate is well ahead of the 9.7% national rate. No new people, no new housing demand, thus no construction jobs. The collapse in in-migration should be very worrying to Atlanta’s leadership. Even Indianapolis added 7,034, but that's 0.42% on a smaller base, meaning Atlanta is actually getting beat on net migration by a Midwest city its in-migration rate is about on par with Columbus, Ohio, another healthy Midwest metropolis. While migration did slow nationally last year due to the economy, Dallas and Houston continued to power ahead. Domestic in-migration has cratered, only reaching 17,479 last year, or 0.32%. But look at the recent past and see a very different dynamic. ![]() From 2005 to 2009 Atlanta's number of annual building permits fell by 66,352, the biggest decline of any metro area.Ītlanta grew strongly in the 2000s, with growth of over 1.2 million people, a 29% rise that beat peer cities like Dallas and Houston. ![]() Though prices didn't collapse, new home building did. The housing crisis cut the legs from under Atlanta's real estate machine. Construction particularly played a big role in its economy. Though perhaps it is too early to declare “game over” for Atlanta, converging trends point to a possible plateauing of Atlanta remarkable rise, and the end of its great growth phase.Īs with many other boomtowns, in Atlanta growth itself has been among the biggest industries. Yet the Great Recession has exposed some troubling cracks in the foundations of Atlanta's success. As a Chicago city-dweller who did multiple consulting stints in Atlanta, I can tell you the city is much better than its reputation in urbanists circles suggests, and it is a place I could happily live. None of America's traditional premier urban centers can make that claim. The city of Atlanta has added nearly 120,000 new residents since 2000, a population increase of 28% representing fully 10% of the region's growth during that period. Though famous for its sprawl, Atlanta has also quietly become one of America's top urban success stories. Critically, it also has established itself as the country's premier African American hub at a time of black empowerment. Today, it's a teeming region of 5.5 million, the 9th largest in America, home to the world's busiest airport, a major subway system, and numerous corporations. In 1950, it was a sleepy state capital in a region of about a million people, not much different from Indianapolis or Columbus, Ohio. With growth slowing, a lack of infrastructure investment catching up with it, and rising competition in the neighborhood, the Capital of the New South is looking vulnerable.Ītlanta is arguably the greatest American urban growth story of the 20th century. ![]()
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