The Epic of Collier Heights

It’s not every day you will hear me extolling the virtues of a postwar suburban neighborhood but this week's episode of 99% Invisible was one of those pieces that made me view just that kind of place in a new way. Growing out of economic necessity and the stranglehold that Jim Crow held over how and where black people could live in the early 50’s in Atlanta an activist named Robert Thompson led a group of leaders to begin determining how they could create safe places to live for their community. First, they looked for areas with available land that sat outside of the city limits of Atlanta in which exclusionary zoning would make their task impossible. Then, Thompson and a group of investors started buying up land. They deliberately relied on the fear of black ownership in a number of small white neighborhoods to create the first housing stock which black families moved into. Eventually the neighborhood grew to 4000 acres and housed much of Altanta’s middle and upper-middle class black families. I would encourage you to listen to the episode or check out the 99PI website for the rest of the story as it is a fascinating examination of how creative a group of people can be to create a place for themselves inside a system which has a near uncountable number of obstacles to just that. I think for the people who subscribe to this newsletter you will also find a segment at the end of the episode interesting. Though they are talking a lot about lawns there is also some discussion of in the internal class-system that the neighborhood created at its inception, and to my ear it sounds a lot like Collier Heights is very similar to many suburban neighborhoods of its era, regardless of the racial mix inside it. –Marshall

Why Building Roads and Transit Costs More in the US

Cities need to be investing their infrastructure dollars in projects that make the community more healthy, equitable, and resilient - especially financially. This means less stroads, more bike/pedestrian/public transit facilities, green infrastructure, and more financially productive greenfield development that produces a higher revenue/acre yield. However, there is also room to improve on the side of reducing the costs to deliver infrastructure projects in the U.S., as this article discusses. – Kevin

Do you enjoy these weekly roundups? (Why wouldn’t you?) You can get them sent straight to your email inbox every Friday, if you’re into that.

Want to learn more about how fiscal analysis can help you make your city stronger financially?

We created a new sister website showcasing how we use math, maps, and money to help cities communicate your resource gap and explore ways to increase tax revenue and improve service efficiency without necessarily raising taxes.

Have a look! →

Hey, friends in local government:

Hey, friends who love cities! If you're looking for a place to discuss these topics (and more) with like-minded peers who want to help create a more resilient community, check out our Community Cultivators Network. It's free to join, and we are currently working to build new features for our 2021 relaunch, so stay tuned! We'll arm you with the content, ideas, and support to take small impactful steps to cultivate change.