Blueprints: Chattahoochee River Park
The Chattahoochee River Park Blueprints studio addresses Georgia's most famous river, the Chattahoochee, which stretches for 430 miles from its source in the Blue Ridge Moutains near Helen to its confluence with the Flint River at the Florida/Georgia/Alabama border. During its long migration to the Gulf of Mexico, the Chattahoochee flows through metro Atlanta.
The Chattahoochee River Park Blueprints studio, comprised of graduate-level students from the Georgia Tech College of Architecture, focused on a 53-mile stretch of river, from Peachtree Creek (southern border of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area) downstream to Chattahoochee Bend State Park in Coweta County.
Chattahoochee NOW, a local non-profit focused on the sustainable revitalization of this corridor, in partnership with the Georgia Conservancy’s Blueprints for Successful Communities program, is leading efforts to catalyze the economic development and quality of life potential along the Chattahoochee River. Together, we envision the Chattahoochee River as a corridor of sustainability where recreation, preservation, community and development are interconnected.
Georgia Tech College of Architecture Chattahoochee River Park Studio Team
The first phase of our Chattahoochee River Park Blueprints studio included an analysis of the existing conditions along the corridor. This effort also included the examination of the corridor and its extents, including the comprehensive future visions outlined by the communities in the corridor: Fulton, Cobb, Douglas, Coweta and Carroll counties, and the cities of Douglasville, Smyrna, Chattahoochee Hills and Atlanta. Additional studies around precedents, stormwater issues, connection to the Atlanta BeltLine, and the tributaries were also pursued in the first phase. Much of the research built upon a Fall 2013 studio conducted by the University of Georgia's College of Environment + Design.
This workshop provides a conditions analysis and preliminary recommendations identifying future preservation, recreation and development potential with an emphasis on rural character preservation and stormwater management. Such recommendations consider the Chattahoochee NOW vision for the river, as well as what may be possible along the river. By regenerating our riverfront as a place where community and nature can coexist, this Chattahoochee River corridor can offer multi-generational destinations for research, culture, agriculture and habitats that will thrive in conjunction with places to live, eat, shop and work. By making the river a destination, we will differentiate the Atlanta region and create economic value for all jurisdictions.
A full Blueprints report on the Chattahoochee River Park studio will be complete and available for download during Summer 2017.
