Ebook: City on the verge: Atlanta and the fight for America's urban future

Atlanta is on the verge of tremendous rebirth-or inexorable decline. A kind of Petri dish for cities struggling to reinvent themselves, Atlanta has the highest income inequality in the country, gridlocked highways, suburban sprawl, and a history of racial injustice. Yet it is also an energetic, brash young city that prides itself on pragmatic solutions. Today, the most promising catalyst for the city's rebirth is the BeltLine, which the New York Times described as "a staggeringly ambitious engine of urban revitalization." A long-term project that is cutting through forty-five neighborhoods ranging from affluent to impoverished, the BeltLine will complete a twenty-two-mile loop encircling downtown, transforming a massive ring of mostly defunct railways into a series of stunning parks connected by trails and streetcars. Acclaimed author Mark Pendergrast presents a deeply researched, multi-faceted, up-to-the-minute history of the biggest city in America's Southeast, using the BeltLine saga to explore issues of race, education, public health, transportation, business, philanthropy, urban planning, religion, politics, and community. An inspiring narrative of ordinary Americans taking charge of their local communities, City of the Verge provides a model for how cities across the country can reinvent themselves.;Introduction: Atlanta's livable future -- Ryan Gravel's epiphany -- City on the move -- First bumps along the BeltLine -- Two Atlantas: the racial divide -- Learning to fly while building an airplane -- Mansions and catholes -- A stake in the ground -- The public's health -- Impossible but inevitable -- East BeltLine: chic, walkable neighborhoods -- South BeltLine: a slow dance to better communities -- West BeltLine: trouble and promise -- North BeltLine: easy streets -- Outside and inside the BeltLine -- The future of Atlanta -- Epilogue: Georgia on my mind.