COUNTRY VS SUBURBS, WHO WILL WIN?

I have a graphic design press check that takes me way out into the western suburbs of atlanta about every two months or so. . .

I drive 20 minutes up the big interstate and exit into a scourge of brand new development, temporarily slowed by economic downturn. I am quite familiar with such sites, for this is the kind of transitional locale that I grew up in. areas like this are filled with a sense of passive non-place. The old countryside environment is defenseless to erasure; it is removed in neat square chunks by an oddly opposite, big box commercialism. Such development, now somewhat passé in urban centers, still attempts to multiply out here, but the country roots remain. . .stand side by side with the new emerging artificial environment. it reminds me of how such places COULD be developed in a radically different way. who knows. . .if the economy continues to collapse, these places may stand a chance.




. . .I found an old cemetery across the street from a walgreens shopping plaza. a dirt road veers from lines of traffic into a shady vertical strip of contemplative land. this beautiful empty lot is preserved for the dead. it's full of buttercups, grassy shade and fake flowers on turn-of-the-century stone graves.








down the road are lovely meadows, cleared a few years ago and now in bloom, with blue plastic pipes poking up and capped for future construction. old houses sit empty and overgrown with vines, awaiting removal







. . .no bother hanging for sale signs here. . . these are ghost scenes of the future.




everytime I drive out here, there is a tremendously appealing series of parkinglots that sit on the crest of a hill. I can see this awesome empty place--grassy and decorated with graffiti--well from the highway.

on this particular trip, I attempted to locate it, getting on an access road. but alas, it disappeared. . . .I did however find a very cool commercial building--an old "LA FITNESS" center. the landscaping is old enough to have grown in, making a really gardenesque parking lot!. . .and this reminds me just how great repurposing such a site could potentially be.







my imagination takes me away. I think of the movie set. . .you know where subculture freaks hold meetings and black-market deals at the back. . .


(here's the back of the place. . .pretty seedy)

but also I think of the subterranean garden that could be carved out of the entrance area. . .and also the tremendous roof-top garden. in some kind future, this would be a hang out with a small stage and designed green space. . .where you'd find sculptured shrubs, birds, weeping willows and lovers holding hands. . .why not?