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Urban Design Guidelines for the Clifton Community
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Public spaces help define a community. An attractive well-designed
urban street is the result of a comprehensive design approach that
balances the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists and automobiles for
safety, security and aesthetics. With several key projects moving
forward near Emory, and at other locations in the Clifton community,
the Clifton Community Partnership (CCP) initiated a public process to
guide community input into this new development rather than react to
it.
In November 2006, the CCP, Emory and local community members embarked
on a two year project to lay the foundation for the key principles
that should be incorporated into 10 main public corridors in the
Clifton community.
Goody Clancy,
a nationally-recognized urban design firm,
worked with the CCP and local neighbors; shared their institutional
knowledge, and led our community towards drafting core principles
for the guidelines..
The guidelines explore non-traditional strategies that set a model
for other communities across metro Atlanta and the country and lay
the groundwork for an enduring legacy of benefits for the Clifton
community, including:
- Fostering a cultural shift from an automobile-centered area into a walkable community.
- Embracing a community-wide sense of commitment to environmental, cultural and
economic sustainability.
- A vision shaped by preservation, restoration, change and innovation alike.
Countless community meetings, weekend charettes and public
presentations later, the Urban Design Guidelines are complete.
Urban Design Guidelines: Ten Corridors of Distinction
The guidelines focus on 10 key corridors in the Clifton community.
Here is an overview:
1. Clifton/Sage Hill - This area could be transformed into a
memorable gateway to the Clifton community, anchored by a
concentration of mixed use development that generates traffic at
lower speeds and takes maximum advantages of existing transit
services, like Cliff and MARTA.
2. Clifton/Wesley Woods - Adding new plantings and a median,
improving sidewalks, informational signage and other measures that
emphasize the presence of Wesley Woods are ways to improve this
stretch of Clifton Road.
3. Clifton/Hilltop - The Emory Point development would include
better sidewalks, a planted median, narrower travel lanes on Clifton
Road - together with proposed construction of new housing, street
front retail and public open space opposite from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - and would transform this area
into an important pedestrian oriented activity center.
4. Clifton/Emory Health Sciences - The redevelopment of this area
would make walking a first choice - not a second - by adding street
level retail, adapting academic and research buildings to engage the
street with more activity, and incorporating new trees and vegetation
in planting strips and a median to reduce the dominance of paved
roadways.
5. Clifton Station - A new transit hub serving buses and
eventually the Brain Train, plus reconfiguration of the Clifton
Road/Haygood Drive intersection, could create welcoming pedestrian
connections in multiple directions. Small retail and food service
shops in the transit station would serve many people passing through
this gateway and help anchor a public plaza with views toward
Lullwater Preserve.
6. Clifton Emory Core - This stretch of Clifton Road could become
one of America's signature boulevards, linking community and
university. Key improvements include median and street tree plantings
that diminish the presence of traffic, bike lanes and sidewalks that
appeal to a diverse community with engaging campus buildings,
neighborhood oriented retail and protection from vehicle traffic.
7. Haygood/Druid Hills High School - Opportunities to rebuild
Haygood Drive and some of the buildings along it offer a valuable
chance for each institution to present a proud new face to the
community and create a welcoming transition to neighbors, together
creating a place of connection.
8. Druid Hills/North Decatur - Creating a pair of paths along the
north side of North Decatur Road that accommodates bicycles
separately from pedestrians, and buffering both from road traffic
with new plantings.
9. Clairmont/North Decatur - Thoughtful redevelopment of dated
retail sites also includes gradual transition of building size from
district core to adjacent neighborhoods, ground floor retail and
other active uses to help bring public spaces to life.
10. Clairmont/Lullwater - Narrower traffic lanes, a central
median, and improved crossing signals would assist pedestrians with
crossing the road and contribute to a sense of place and community.
Emory's agreement to sidewalk improvements near Clarimont Road and
Starvine Way and the planned parking deck on the Clairmont campus
will assist with pedestrian connectivity and vehicular accessibility
to Emory.
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