UPDATED: City-Data Atlanta Forum Posters: City of Atlanta or Suburban Residents?

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by DoubleZ OTP

At the risk of steering this thread off-topic: in my observation, this phenomenon has less to do with a specific direction, and more to do with two things: water, and elevation.

In nearly all American cities, the rich neighborhoods are typically upstream and/or uphill of those cities' historic Downtowns, while the poor neighborhoods are typically downstream and/or downhill of historic Downtowns. There are exceptions to this, of course. It just so happens that, in American cities, many streams and rivers flow southward, resulting in a seemingly coincidental pattern of more affluent northsides in many American cities.

This is, I think, a legacy of a bygone era when industrial runoff and human waste was more likely to readily make its way downhill and into sources of drinking water.

Take Atlanta. Our primary waterway is the Chattahoochee River (and its tributaries like Peachtree Creek). Notice that Buckhead developed upriver of Atlanta's Chattahoochee Water Treatment Plant (at the point on the river closest to Downtown Atlanta). Druid Hills -- another "old money" Atlanta neighborhood -- developed on a high-elevation ridge outside of Downtown Atlanta, near the headwaters of Peachtree Creek and near a couple of natural springs.

In Birmingham, AL -- a city with a more affluent southside -- the southside sits at a much higher elevation than Birmingham's Downtown area. Same in Nashville, TN.

This is 100% true. During the days of segregation/Jim Crow, the areas that were designated for Black residents were in low-lying, flood-prone areas (i.e. Vine City, Summerhill, etc.), while the more affluent White areas had higher elevations — thus resulting in better sanitation, etc.