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But significant population losses in an area very often don’t signal good things, either.
Some folks would rather not acknowledge that, unfortunately. Here we have 10-year statistics (not just a yearly US Census estimate), and we see definite urban trends for 2010-2020, and even going back to 2000. In Georgia, certain urban areas are showing only modest growth, others show sustained growth, and still others are booming. And one urban area is in obvious decline.
I wonder if they're going to combine Gainesville and Metro Atlanta into one MSA since it appears that Gainesville benefited from the upper part of Gwinnett County.
This is the only real answer to Gainesville urban numbers. More sprawl than a dense population like Columbus.
This is the only real answer to Gainesville urban numbers. More sprawl than a dense population like Columbus.
The Gainesville urban area (Hall County) isn’t just made up of sprawl, but is largely made up of exceedingly low-density sprawl that some could argue really pushes the boundaries of the definition of an urban area.
(Hall County has almost half the population density of Muscogee County.)
But Gainesville’s exceedingly low-density sprawl is the result of being in a very advantageous location only about a little over 50 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta on Lake Lanier along I-985 and a busy freight railroad line in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And the significant amount of industry that the aforementioned geographical conditions have generated has also helped to generate much political influence in Georgia and national politics which has helped to steer a lot of major economic development opportunities into the area.
Gainesville’s urban area sprawl isn’t necessarily just the result of heavy development spilling over the line from Gwinnett County into Hall County, though that is a significant part of it.
Gainesville urban area sprawl is also the result of the area’s status as the industrial hub of the Northeast Georgia Mountains region generating an often outsized influence in politics which has steered even more economic development projects into the area… Economic development projects like Kubota Manufacturing, the new Lanier Technical College campus on GA-365, the future Northeast Georgia Inland Port on GA-365, etc.
Gainesville’s urban area population growth basically is the result of an exceedingly advantageous location which has created an outsized amount of raw economic and political power for the area.
And it does not seem to be clear that residents in other parts of Georgia completely understand just how economically and politically powerful the Gainesville area has grown to be in recent years.
The Gainesville urban area (Hall County) isn’t just made up of sprawl, but is largely made up of exceedingly low-density sprawl that some could argue really pushes the boundaries of the definition of an urban area.
(Hall County has almost half the population density of Muscogee County.)
But Gainesville’s exceedingly low-density sprawl is the result of being in a very advantageous location only about a little over 50 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta on Lake Lanier along I-985 and a busy freight railroad line in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
And the significant amount of industry that the aforementioned geographical conditions have generated has also helped to generate much political influence in Georgia and national politics which has helped to steer a lot of major economic development opportunities into the area.
Gainesville’s urban area sprawl isn’t necessarily just the result of heavy development spilling over the line from Gwinnett County into Hall County, though that is a significant part of it.
Gainesville urban area sprawl is also the result of the area’s status as the industrial hub of the Northeast Georgia Mountains region generating an often outsized influence in politics which has steered even more economic development projects into the area… Economic development projects like Kubota Manufacturing, the new Lanier Technical College campus on GA-365, the future Northeast Georgia Inland Port on GA-365, etc.
Gainesville’s urban area population growth basically is the result of an exceedingly advantageous location which has created an outsized amount of raw economic and political power for the area.
And it does not seem to be clear that residents in other parts of Georgia completely understand just how economically and politically powerful the Gainesville area has grown to be in recent years.
I'm not sure that people in the rest of the state don't understand as much as it is a different perspective. While Gainesville is it's own place, it's location along the edge of metro Atlanta gets it lumped in as part of the metro in many minds. I agree that it's unique location in the mountains (but not IN the mountains like Helen or Ellijay) and close enough to Atlanta to benefit from metro amenities makes Gainesville especially attractive to many. To many people in my part of the state, Lake Lanier to Cartersville to Dallas to Villa Rica to Newnan to Griffin to Covington and everything in that loop is just "Atlanta" so even though Gainesville is on the edge of that, many don't see it as a separate entity. I think Gainesville is a wonderful place with an enviable location so continued growth is inevitable. Just a different perspective as to whether it is part of greater Atlanta.
I'm not sure that people in the rest of the state don't understand as much as it is a different perspective. While Gainesville is it's own place, it's location along the edge of metro Atlanta gets it lumped in as part of the metro in many minds. I agree that it's unique location in the mountains (but not IN the mountains like Helen or Ellijay) and close enough to Atlanta to benefit from metro amenities makes Gainesville especially attractive to many. To many people in my part of the state, Lake Lanier to Cartersville to Dallas to Villa Rica to Newnan to Griffin to Covington and everything in that loop is just "Atlanta" so even though Gainesville is on the edge of that, many don't see it as a separate entity. I think Gainesville is a wonderful place with an enviable location so continued growth is inevitable. Just a different perspective as to whether it is part of greater Atlanta.
Yep. Just like other posters have observed and stated, Gainesville has benefited immensely from its geographical location on the northeastern edge of metro Atlanta.
And Gainesville enjoys the benefits of both being a very key exurban part of greater metro Atlanta while also being its own entity as the hub of business, industry and politics for the Northeast Georgia Mountains region. That’s even though Gainesville is a foothills town and not a mountain town like a Helen or Ellijay, etc.
It’s Gainesville extremely advantageous geographical location which has generated the economic dominance which has generated the political dominance which has generated even more economic dominance and resulted in the kind of urban area population statistics (where Gainesville’s urban area is reported to be larger than the urban areas of established second-tier cities like Columbus and Macon) that many in other parts of the state outside of Northeast Georgia very understandably seem to have trouble believing.
And, I myself likely might would have some trouble believing that Gainesville’s urban area had grown to be bigger than the urban areas of established second-tier cities like Columbus and Macon if I weren’t so familiar with the North metro Atlanta suburbs and exurbs and had not been watching the Gainesville area acquire and consolidate so much power in Georgia and U.S. politics over the last 16 years.
(And I do readily admit that the term “urban area” is to be used lightly in regards to the exceedingly low-density basically rural area that is the north half of Hall County.)
Gainesville is an example of an urban area that gets to have it both ways when it comes to its economic, social and political identity.
Gainesville gets to enjoy the status of being the commercial hub of the Northeast Georgia Mountains region while also getting to enjoy the benefits of basically being an important part of metro and greater Atlanta.
And to Gainesville’s credit, the city has very wisely utilized its unique geographical position to its full advantage to the extent of often dominating metro Atlanta over the 16 years.
The so-called “Hall County Mafia” is a real thing.
I never thought of "sprawl" as automatically a negative feature. High density living can be, and generally is overall a negative it seems to me....unless you're an egg-head leftist new urbanist who enjoy creating close-in, stacked living where everyone *should* walk or ride bikes LOL
It’s not necessarily about whether “sprawl” is good or bad… That observation and/or opinion is up to what one personally thinks of sprawl either way.
“Sprawl” basically is just a term that is a name for metropolitan development patterns, which can be more sparse (like a Gainesville/Hall County metropolitan area or a greater Atlanta metropolitan region) or more dense (like a Columbus, Georgia; a Miami, Florida; a New York/New Jersey metropolitan area; a Tokyo, Japan, etc.).
An urban area like Columbus, Georgia sprawls relatively much less less than a Gainesville/Hall County does in Northeast Georgia because an urban area like Columbus has fairly strict physical constraints on the Georgia side in the form of the Fort Benning U.S. Military base that lies directly to the east and the west of the city.
Meanwhile, an urban area like Gainesville/Hall County sprawls relatively much, much more than a Columbus, Georgia because an urban area like Gainesville/Hall County has much more land area available for its metropolitan development patterns to stretch out upon at an exceedingly low rate of density than does a much more constricted urban area like Columbus, Georgia.
close-in, stacked living where everyone *should* walk or ride bikes LOL
Sidewalks will never be a "should" in America. But I noticed that teenagers and adults in Buckhead aren't nearly as heavy as the ones in exurban Atlanta (with comparable incomes, of course). In Europe, there are sidewalks in 90% of outer-ring suburbs. You'll need a car to live out there, but when sidewalks are put in, they tend to get used. And within two, three years, there might be a supermarket down the street.
I must have missed that in my graduate training in Urban Planning lol
How did you graduate training in Urban Planning, and you didn't hear the negatives of lack of sidewalks, sprawl and negative growth is consider problematics? If so it had to before the mid 90s, because post 2000s urban planners have complete didn't philosophy to what is consider good growth.
Negative growth is bad because there's reduce labor, more people retire as they age but not enough people to the run society. So as people age there suddenly less stores open and good services for them. Negative growth is also bad because of overbuilt infrastructure maintenance while also having a loss of tax revenue, Lastly crime too many abandon places becomes a dreamland for criminals.
Sprawl itself is clearly bad for the environment and there a whole thing I could get into with that alone but I'm not. but You mention in other post, "all population growth is not necessarily a great thing" then said "I never thought of "sprawl" as automatically a negative feature." well on poorly plan sprawl it clearly is. sprawl is a social trap, people move out in sprawl because it's cheap but often it has bad infrastructure that doesn't age well and can't keep up as the place grows to have double the cars and etc on roads, with little alterative routes, no alterative transportation. the "American Dream" is basically like a drug with the negative side effects not being talk about.
Another negative is combination of sprawl and population decline together. As place can decline this can cause a circulation off the wealth abandoning the sprawl they just created 20 to 40 years ago. This leave poverty in a sprawl area which is even worst then the more urban area because infrastructure to travel and jobs accessibility is going to be worst.
Agree with masonbauknight that sidewalks shouldn't be force, but the lack of sidewalk do cause problem. The rise of nursing homes goes with the rise of sprawl growth in the US. This is because the baby boomers built the sprawled out environment, essentially built communities that difficult to age in. Not only is sprawl out environments with sidewalks dangerous for kids, but if your elderly and can't drive, you can't live in that cul de sac. There no sidewalks and likely no near by store etc anyways.
In fact Northeast Georgia, from Gainesville, Athens, to Forsyth need to improve infrastructure at first I was against the idea of freeway etc out that far. But Athens and Gainesville are sort of like Atlanta version of the inland Empire. Which is Riverside/San Bernardino metro area relation to LA. The Georgia piedmont region is mostly one CSA area. There No freeway even going into Athens.
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