Sprawl's Influence

As I read the "Terminal Station" blog, I looked for underlying views relating to the author's opinion on sprawl or traditional neighborhoods. While the blog is "about Atlanta real estate and politics. And occasionally [his] puppydog," and this post was written specifically about an article listing Atlanta as the 13th best city to live in in the U.S., there were many references to King's (the author's) opinion on sprawl. After reading about Atlanta's mediocre results, he begins to admit that some of the higher ranked cities have advantages in things such as industry,infrastructure, and environment. For example, Denver has the Rockies and a superbly designed infrastructure and NYC (ranked #1) assuredly has industrial advantages over Atlanta. After King mentions these shortcomings of Atlanta, he insists that Atlanta, despite it's lack of walkability, lack of natural environmental attraction, and slight deficit in industry, the real reason we are behind 12 other cities is because of our "inept leadership over the last two decades." He says that Atlanta should have been "cultivating a stronger walkable core with more alternative transportation," almost directly quoting Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Speck on the most important positive aspect of a traditional neighborhood. Here a blogger who set out to write about the sub-par politics of Atlanta actually perfectly described, in totality, the disadvantages of living in sprawl. I believe I underestimate the influence sprawl has on my life as well as the lives of the people around me.

Short but Effective

Since I have chosen many blogs related to the City of Atlanta, I thought I would change to a new place. I found a blog ("Sprawled Out") dealing with the town of Franklin, Wisconsin and the sprawl affecting their community. Unbeknownst to me, but Wednesday was International Walk to School Day. The blogger addressed how his community could not participate in this event because the town was "sprawled out" (see picture above on the left). The blog was effective in getting across its point because it was short and to the point. If a casual reader is going through the site and sees a short blog, they are likely to read it. The blogger starts by writing, "Today is International Walk to School Day. But not in Franklin, Wisconsin, where nearby is still far away." The last part of the sentence is an example of a logical appeal because it is stating a fact about the town. The author claims schools, businesses, and other places are not within walking distance making driving a necessity. He also provides a link to another blog showing how is community is not walker friendly (Below).


The blogger creates visual appeals as well to illustrate the society he lives in. The caption for the picture is "Would you let your child walk this gauntlet to school, even if it's only 1000 yards." Also the title of the blog is,"The County Sheriff has determined that all of Franklin School District is in an unusually hazardous transportation area." The blogger provides great evidence to back up his point that his community is not walker friendly and even hazardous. Sprawl has deeply affected his town and he is worried about it spreading even more. His blog is catchy and the links he provides backs up his short and simple point very effectively.

-Chris P.

"Sprawled Out" And Their Ideal Community

The search for the idea community splits between sprawl and traditional neighborhoods. While businesses have been exploiting suburban areas for a quick profit, traditional neighborhoods are left in the dust. Sprawled Out competently describes their own idea of what a neighborhood should be through its interesting multimodal blog posts. For example, the most recent post discusses the idea of converting old strip malls into traditional neighborhoods and uses a detailed flow chart to visually show how the new infrastructure will be affected. Convincing pictures and links to other sites keep the reader interested and well-informed. Videos are an effective tool for getting a point across, and Sprawled Out does a great job using them, from demonstrating the effects of sprawl to broadcasting an interview with an expert. Blogs such as Sprawled Out are multimodal documents that use interesting ways to convey information in order to inform the reader in ways never though possible.

-Travis Turner

Doraville Community Problem

I chose the blog for the City of Doraville. The city recently had a meeting about a proposed plan on some land known as the "GM Property." I assume the GM property is a vacant car lot, but I am sure if the reader is a local resident, they will probably know of the GM Property. Dekalb county, where Doraville is located, wants to put a football stadium for the Falcons on the property. The blog is telling the residents of Doraville to go to the town meeting and vote against the football stadium. The blogger supplies a quote from a concerned member of the Doraville community about how the stadium would damage the city. The lady had seen it happen to Gwinnett County with the "Baby Braves Stadium" and how it has cause many traffic problems in the city. The quote is very convincing and provides great evidence against the city. Some of the members do not want their city to become congested and heavily traveled. Many probably enjoy the quiet and the "out of the city" feel of their community. Those qualities would be in jeopardy with the new stadium. The blogger used text, quotes, and a youtube clip to help express his point. The multimodal elements of this blog help back the bloggers point up and it makes it convincing.

-Chris P.