Atlanta Georgia includes over 3,000 acres of parkland managed by Parks and Recreation. The 343 Atlanta parks range in scope from formal gardens at Atlanta Botanical Garden to pocket parks in neighborhoods. Additionally, there are six miles of paved pedestrian and bike trails in the Atlanta Beltline as well as the PATH Foundation network of 150 miles of off road trails.
Piedmont Park, site of the 1895 Cotton States Expo, is Atlanta's iconic green space. The Midtown park, which underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2010, attracts visitors from across the region and hosts various cultural events throughout the year. [1] Piedmont Park also features a large 3-acre dog park [2] with sections for large and small dogs.
Centennial Olympic Park forms a centerpoint for downtown visitors in and around which key visitor attractions are located; nearby Woodruff Park and Hurt Park cater to the downtown lunch crowd. [3]
Grant Park, located on the east side, is home to the city zoo., Chastain Park, the primary recreational center for the northern Buckhead district, contains an amphitheater for live music concerts. Atlanta's largest park, Southside Park, is remote and nearly undeveloped, and the planned Westside Park in northwest Atlanta, which will be constructed on the site of a former gravel quarry, will eclipse Southside as the city's largest. Also, Perkerson Park in Southwest Atlanta is home to the city's only permanent Disc Golf course. [3] Atlanta's neighborhoods are dotted with hundreds of neighborhood parks such as John Howell Park in Virginia-Highland and Perkerson Park in the Capitol View/Sylvan Hills area. Freedom Park is Atlanta's largest passive park, with over 200 acres of linear greenspace going through Atlanta's historic east side neighborhoods. It was designated as Atlanta's Public Art Park by the Atlanta City Council in 2007. [4]
Several nature preserves line the south fork of Peachtree Creek in the Morningside neighborhood, including the Morningside Nature Preserve, while part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area lies in the city's northwest corner. [3]
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is home to the Canopy Walk, a 600-foot elevated walkway ambling 40 feet from the ground through a 15-acre forest of mature hardwoods, and the only canopy-level pathway of its kind in the United States. [5]
The BeltLine, a former rail corridor that forms a 22-mile loop around Atlanta's central neighborhoods, has been acquired and transformed into public space. Most of the corridor opened in the late-2000s as a walking path, with plans for development of multi-use trails and, eventually, public transit. A trail has already been constructed near the West End neighborhood, while another one, under construction as of 2012, will connect Piedmont Park to Inman Park. BeltLine projects will increase Atlanta's park space by 40%, [6] including two new parks: Historic Fourth Ward Park, now open, and Westside Park.
In addition to BeltLine trails, PATH maintains a network of biking and walking trails in Metro Atlanta, including one that traverses Atlanta's east side, traveling past the Carter Center and through Freedom Park.
PATH400 will be a major addition to the PATH network through Buckhead.
The Cheshire Farm Trail lines the South Fork of Peachtree Creek from Lindbergh Ave. to Cheshire Bridge Road, and Maiden Trail parallels Ponce de Leon Avenue in Virginia-Highland.
Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business groups. However, the commercial core of the area is anchored by a series of high-rise office buildings, condominiums, hotels, and high-end retail along Peachtree Street between North Avenue and 17th Street. Midtown, situated between Downtown to the south and Buckhead to the north, is the second-largest business district in Metro Atlanta. In 2011, Midtown had a resident population of 41,681 and a business population of 81,418.
Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downtown and Midtown, a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast.
The city of Atlanta, Georgia is made up of 243 neighborhoods officially defined by the city. These neighborhoods are a mix of traditional neighborhoods, subdivisions, or groups of subdivisions. The neighborhoods are grouped by the city planning department into 25 neighborhood planning units (NPUs). These NPUs are "citizen advisory councils that make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on zoning, land use, and other planning issues". There are a variety of other widely recognized named areas within the city. Some are officially designated, while others are more informal.
The Atlanta BeltLine is a 22 miles (35 km) open and planned loop of multi-use trail and light rail transit system on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta BeltLine is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by infrastructure, improve transportation, add green space, promote redevelopment, create and preserve affordable housing, and showcase arts and culture. The project is in varying stages of development, with several mainline and spur trails complete and others in an unpaved, but hikeable, state. Since the passage of the More MARTA sales tax in 2016, construction of the light rail streetcar system is overseen by MARTA in close partnership with Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.
The neighborhood planning unit (NPU) is a community-scale governmental structure used in the City of Atlanta, Georgia.
Grove Park is a northwest Atlanta, inside-the-perimeter neighborhood bounded by:
Ansley Park is an intown residential district in Atlanta, Georgia, located just east of Midtown and west of Piedmont Park. When developed in 1905-1908, it was the first Atlanta suburban neighborhood designed for automobiles, featuring wide, winding roads rather than the grid pattern typical of older streetcar suburbs. Streets were planned like parkways with extensive landscaping, while Winn Park and McClatchey Park are themselves long and narrow, extending deep into the neighborhood.
Sylvan Hills is a historic intown neighborhood in southwest Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Clear Creek is a stream in northeast Atlanta that is a tributary to Peachtree Creek and part of the Chattahoochee River watershed. It has two main branches, one originating east of the high ground along which Boulevard runs and another to the west originating on the northeast side of downtown Atlanta. The easterly branch of Clear Creek begins in several springs and branches in what are now Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward. Flowing north, the creek was joined by other branches and springs, including Angier Springs near the end of Belgrade Avenue and the so-called Ponce de Leon Springs, which were “discovered” during railroad construction in the 1860s and gave rise to the eponymous park and avenue.
Capitol View Manor is a small community in Southwest Atlanta that was named for the excellent view of the Georgia State Capitol building. Its boundaries include I-75/85 to the east, the Beltline to the north, Metropolitan Parkway to the west, and Atlanta Technical College to the south.
Morningside/Lenox Park is an intown neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia founded in 1923. It is located north of Virginia-Highland, east of Ansley Park and west of Druid Hills. Approximately 3,500 households comprise the neighborhood that includes the original subdivisions of Morningside, Lenox Park, University Park, Noble Park, Johnson Estates and Hylan Park.
Capitol View is a historic in-town southwest Atlanta neighborhood 2.5 miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia that was named for its view of the Georgia State Capitol building. Its boundaries include Metropolitan Parkway to the east, Lee Street to the west, and the Beltline to the north. On the south, the border follows Arden Street, Deckner Avenue, and Perkerson Park.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
Lindbergh, officially Lindbergh/Morosgo, is a neighborhood in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the neighborhood consists of multi-use development combining retail, office and residential space.
Peachtree Hills is a neighborhood within the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. It primarily contains residential buildings, however, commercial buildings are scattered throughout the neighborhood. Peachtree Battle Shopping Center is located within the borders of Peachtree Hills.
Tanyard Creek Park is a 14.5-acre (5.9 ha) park in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. It is located along Tanyard Creek between Collier Road on the north and BeltLine rail corridor to the south. The neighborhood of Collier Hills borders it on the west and Collier Hills North on the east.
Piedmont Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Atlanta, beginning in Downtown Atlanta and ending at its continuation as Piedmont Road just before crossing under Interstate 85. Along the way, Piedmont Avenue passes through Midtown Atlanta where several historic properties are located on the street.
The PATH400 Greenway Trail is a multi-use trail under construction along the Georgia 400 freeway in Buckhead, Atlanta. Once complete, the trail will be 10 feet to 14 feet wide and traverse the cities of Atlanta, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.
This is the timeline of the development of the BeltLine, a ring of trails and parks around central Atlanta.
Ardmore, sometimes called "Ardmore Park" for the city park of the same name within the neighborhood, is a neighborhood in the extreme south Buckhead area of Atlanta, between Peachtree Road, on the east, railroad tracks and the Atlanta BeltLine on the west, Collier Road to the north and Brookwood to the south. Though distinct from Brookwood and Collier Hills, the neighborhoods are often linked as they share a border and location along Collier Road and Peachtree Street/Road just north of Midtown.