EDITOR'S NOTE

Earlier this year, Living Intown magazine was nominated for a fancy international award. (We took third place.)

That’s why a Tuesday in May found me walking along the streets of Manhattan. I embarked from the crowded, aromatic nexus of Times Square, where there seems to be an unspoken game of “chicken” between cars and pedestrians at every corner.

It was quite a relief to make my way to the High Line, a new New York attraction, and enjoy the city’s architecture from a story or two above street level. Built on an unused, elevated spur of the New York Central Railroad, the High Line linear park winds for 1.45 miles from a southern corner of Hell’s Kitchen through Chelsea to the meatpacking district. Walking past gardens and sunbathers reclining on wooden benches, I could soak up views of skyscrapers like the distant Chrysler Building, as well as ones almost within arm’s reach.

The High Line strikes me as just the kind of feature that New York really needs, by literally rising above its annoyances to put the city in a better light. It occasionally gets compared to the Atlanta BeltLine — they’re both former rail lines turned into public paths that peaceably bring people together. But the BeltLine is a project on a very different scale — and is just the thing that 21st century Atlanta needs.

As this special issue discusses in detail, the Atlanta BeltLine will use miles of unused rail to create a network of paths and parks that links communities and creates opportunities for housing, commerce, transit and leisure. It’s gotten a lot of love almost since its conception, although it won’t single-handedly rescue Atlanta from all of its urban challenges.

But, in a city defined by metropolitan sprawl that all but confines generations of Atlantans to their cars, the BeltLine offers not just a nice place to visit, but a fresh way of thinking about our surroundings. Only a fraction of the plan has been realized so far, but the finished trails have already had an outsized impact on how Atlantans enjoy the city. The trails allow us to commune with art, nature and each other; connect to our communities; and simply move about in the open air, without being enclosed by windshields.

Living Intown magazine has gravitated to the BeltLine since David Landis’ sculpture “Northern White” was on our first cover two years ago. We hope this special edition of Living Intown can do justice to the BeltLine’s ever-changing complexity and at least some of the many people devoted to it. This issue is meant to provide a helpful guide to navigating the BeltLine, offer insightful background details and provide the next best thing to being there. Plus, you can find more video, maps and other content at ajc.com/beltlinemagazine.

Finally, I’ll point out that the Atlanta BeltLine allows dogs and bicycles — unlike the High Line.

So that’s one thing we’ve got over New York.

Curt Holman

livingintowneditor@gmail.com