Nearly 80 percent of Americans live in cities and metropolitan areas. Increasingly, those cities are challenged by aging water and transportation systems that are nearing or exceeding their designed capacity. A new focus on flood and other natural disaster resilience is driving city planners to leverage mixed-use infrastructure, including parks, to address civic needs while taking advantage of cost savings and other social benefits.

During 2019’s final quarterly briefing, held at Atlanta Technical College, Beltline CEO Clyde Higgs and Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd announced that a contractor has been secured for part of the Southside Trail’s construction.

The Atlanta BeltLine is looking for construction firms for the first phase of the Southside Trail. The first section of the Southside Trail plans to extend off the Westside Trail terminus with plans to link the Westside and Eastside sections of the park.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom and Atlanta BeltLine Inc. have negotiated nearly $12 million to be allocated for affordable housing in 2020. Most of the money is reserved for land acquisition to ameliorate costly market-rate prices.

A small but important stretch of path of the Atlanta BeltLine connecting Edgewood and DeKalb avenues—where Old Fourth Ward meets Inman Park—is officially open. Take a look at the photos from its opening day.

A coalition of public and private organizations behind this challenge are seeking to identify AgTech solutions that position food as a platform for health, economic development and cultural expression, creating benefits for all—particularly low-income residents and families.

The Westside Park at Bellwood Quarry will be Atlanta’s largest green space—spanning 280 acres—as well as home to a two billion-gallon reservoir of emergency water for the city.

The Atlanta BeltLine’s original master plan outlined ambitions to create 5,600 affordable housing units along the trail over a 25-year period. Brian McGowan, who stepped into the project’s CEO role amid concerns of undelivered affordability promises, wants to increase the promised number of affordable units to 10,000.

Brian McGowan, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc., talks transit, housing, foreign investment, and the 22-mile project’s role in fostering inclusion amid Atlanta’s new era of breakneck growth.

There’s growing concern that the construction of light-rail transit along the full Atlanta BeltLine loop may not be moving forward as planned. As MARTA officials work to finalize what they can afford to build with the limited funding available, an advocacy group is mobilizing citizens to demand transit for the BeltLine.