People in Atlanta drive because the urban planning is a disaster.
In my view it's more complicated than that.
Actually let people live right next to the rail and retail, instead of surrounding it all with enormous, pedestrian unfriendly parking lots.
Yup, that's what people are trying to do[1]. It's unpopular with commercial developers, so local government has to convince them to accept higher costs without causing a lawsuit or driving them away entirely[2].
In my view it's more complicated than that.
Actually let people live right next to the rail and retail, instead of surrounding it all with enormous, pedestrian unfriendly parking lots.
Yup, that's what people are trying to do[1]. It's unpopular with commercial developers, so local government has to convince them to accept higher costs without causing a lawsuit or driving them away entirely[2].
[1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Beltline]
[2 http://atlanta.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/04/at-glenwood-sc...]