New Forms of Urban Redevelopment
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This map from 1996 depicts empowerment zones and linkage communities within the City of Atlanta.
Courtesy of Georgia State University. Libraries, Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making, 1930s - 1990s: City Planning Maps.
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Mayor Maynard Jackson shows the new MARTA cars to a group of men in 1977.
Courtesy of Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, Maynard Jackson Mayoral Administrative Records.
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This 1965 aerial photograph of Atlanta-County stadium shows the completed structure which was located on part of the Washington-Rawson neighborhood.
Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta Blue Print and Graphics Company Photographs, 1961-1962, undated.
Recent decades have seen attempts to promote equitable urban development and economic growth. For example, in 1993 Congress established the Empowerment Zone program, which provided grants and tax incentives to stimulate community and business development. These programs were intended to revitalize economically distressed areas without demolishing existing communities or displacing residents. In addition, conditions that once stimulated urban renewal, such as the rise of the automobile and the migration of city residents to suburbs, have seen some reversals in Atlanta in recent decades. Since 1979 MARTA has provided mass transit to the Atlanta area, giving residents an alternative to automobile commuting. In addition, the City of Atlanta has experienced a surge in population growth since the 1990s, as urban living becomes more desirable.