Atlanta, a College Town?

I was intrigued by a recent op-ed that envisioned Atlanta as an unusually large college town. Let's make that a "college city". It's true that we have a lot of universities in the region, concentrated in the core of the city. GSU, Georgia Tech, the AUC (which includes Clark-Atlanta, Spelman, Morehouse, and Morris Brown), and Emory University a few miles out, plus some technical colleges.

A Georgia Tech student heads back to campus:

The article states, "College towns are some of the most pleasant in the nation — human-scaled, walkable and bikeable — and filled with eclectic shopping, restaurants, sports and arts venues attractive to students and adults. Instead of trying to lure big corporations and chain shopping centers back downtown, let’s concentrate on developing downtown as a series of safe, walkable and bikeable campuses threaded with shopping, housing and parks."

Doesn't that sound nice?

The universities are starting to get bicycle programs and more parking on campus. Here are Emory, Georgia Tech, and GSU. I haven't been in the AUC area in a while.