Like most cities, Atlanta is made up of many small neighborhoods each with its own unique personality. While some neighborhoods benefit from the city’s growth, others experience no benefit at all. A child born in a lower income neighborhood will not even have access to resources now available in other neighborhoods. It’s evident that less resources means less opportunity. It is like there are giant walls dividing Atlanta. Walls that group people by income, race, and resources. These walls augment both health and economic inequality. The challenge was apparent: How can we work together to overcome these barriers in our City?

StationSoccer, led by the local nonprofit Soccer in the Streets, envisions soccer fields and classrooms in metro transit hubs to cultivate healthy communities through sports-based youth development. It’s a way to bypass the wall. In what was unused land and infrastructure, this project creates safe green spaces that are programmed for community use. The master plan envisions the use of decommissioned MARTA train cars that will be designed by children and families of the community as learning spaces, community gardens or other uses catered to the demographics of the site like shaded pavilions, intergenerational spaces, public art and farmer’s markets to create community activation zones. At each field location, benches are built from re-purposed golden spikes that are autographed and driven into the field by fans to commemorate each Atlanta United home game.

This is a different kind of Transit Oriented Development!

This project calls for a cohesive but distinct vision for a multi-site master plan. Two key actions – an in-depth data analysis of each of the 10 StationSoccer MARTA sites, coupled with a robust community engagement process – is helping articulate the project solution. To understand each community’s needs, the design team analyzed several layers of data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping tools and visualized the gaps. Data related to parks and open space, per-capita income, foreign-born residents, bike and trail infrastructure, access to healthy foods, stormwater trends and other demographics unraveled the unique character for urban design tactics. This deep-dive data analysis propelled a decision-making toolkit for MARTA, developers, Atlanta city government and StationSoccer. Although all stations are in Metro Atlanta, the data indicated differences of adjacencies, demographics, and walkability that inform customized site programming. For example, many of the sites are urban with daunting heat island effects. The recommended kit of parts includes a shading canopy made from recycled materials, temporary structures, vegetation, and reflective paving that promote healing of the land and the users.