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Durham

Suburban Greenways?

The American Tobacco Trail and Durham Rail Trail should be urbanized

Zoe Tishaev
Dec 14, 2024
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Atlanta Beltline has introduced a new way of utilizing trails as a means of transportation rather than simply recreation. Pedestrians and bicyclists use the Beltline as a sort of car-free highway, traveling to local businesses and parks as they enjoy the nature that surrounds them. More trails should follow the standard set by the Beltline. 

In North Carolina, the American Tobacco Trail (ATT) is a 22-mile route that connects pedestrians, bicyclists, and skaters from Durham’s own American Tobacco Campus all the way to the town of Apex. Along the way, users encounter everything from historical landmarks to business hubs.

To better contextualize the land-use patterns that the ATT cuts through, we can use the T1-6 transects, described below:

Naturalists use the transect concept to describe the characteristics of ecosystems and the transition from one ecosystem to another. Andres Duany and other urbanists applied this concept to human settlements, and since about 2000 this idea has permeated …

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Zoe Tishaev's avatar
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Zoe Tishaev
Zoe is a graduate from Duke University with a degree in Political Science and minors in Economics and Sociology. She studies the impact of space on community building.
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