My Park Hill: Atlanta transplant drawn to Park Hill’s new urbanism
The Malecs – pictured here embracing the western lifestyle – moved from Atlanta to Park Hill four years ago and love their quirky, small home that keeps them from accumulating too much stuff.
By, Jason Malec
New Urbanism is a relatively new city planning and architectural movement making its way across the country. According to newurbanism.com, it is defined by the “revival of our lost art of place-making, [which] promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant, mixed-used communities.” In some cases, new urbanism reclaims abandoned spaces. While in others, developers can create new urban and semi-urban communities through breaking new ground. When Meredith, I, and our three kids moved to Denver nearly four years ago, I had begun studying new urbanism, and was attracted to the lifestyle and its principles.
During our home-finding research, Meredith discovered that the Greater Park Hill neighborhood had just been named one of the American Planning Association’s Great Neighborhoods in America that year. We realized that New Urbanism is NOT a lost art after all. In fact, on my first visit to the ‘hood, after a cup of coffee at Perk Hill and a stroll down Kearney Street, I discovered that this extremely hot, desirable, and not inexpensive movement is actually based on prototypes like Park Hill.
So we set our sights on living here and becoming a part of this community. We were migrating from a typical Atlanta suburban neighborhood, which had a handful of floor plans, a militant HOA, and bunches of people who looked just like us. But we wanted something different for our kids. Indeed, we desire for them to have friends who don’t look like them, and friends who hold different beliefs than us. After hearing these desires, our realtor confirmed that Park Hill was our place.
So, four years in, we still love our quirky, small house, which keeps us from accumulating too much unnecessary stuff. We love our stamped and cracked sidewalks, and seeing all the kids and parents walking and riding their kids to school each morning – which the recent “Mass Experiment 2012” study linked to better concentration. We love our proximity to the Bike Depot, and city services like the museum, Viva Streets, City Park, and the library. We love walking into places like Cherry Tomato, Oblios, Spinelli’s, and Cake Crumbs, where somebody’s bound to “know your name.” We love the hundreds of front porches, which encourage summertime afternoons, “jes settin.” We love the fact that we know Sgt. Ambrose Slaughter, our local police officer, and his friendly neighborhood patrols. And, consistent with our desire, we love the fact that our kids are getting educated, in many cases, with people who have different skin color and backgrounds than ours.
What we’ve realized is that “New Urbanism” is actually not new. It’s been alive and well for over 100 years, right here in Park Hill. And while it’s not for everyone, and it’s certainly not perfect, it’s my Park Hill.
How do you see the neighborhood? Why do you live here? What makes Park Hill feel like home? Submit your essays to evanderberg@greaterparkhill.org.