ATLANTA(NORTH AMERICA)

Atlanta  is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.

Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group atLoughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city". With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.

The city has long been known as a center of black wealth, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement and home to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the city's white population is growing rapidly, while Metro Atlanta has quickly become ethnically diverse with large Hispanic and Asian populations. The arts and entertainment are well represented in Atlanta, and the city is an important base for hip hop, gospel, and neo soul music; in addition, it has become a major center of film and TV production. Atlanta stands out among major U.S. cities for its dense tree coverage. In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics, an event that spurred a wave ofgentrification that has intensified into the 21st century, revitalizing the city's center and in-town neighborhoods.

CityscapeArchitecture in Atlanta is dominated by modernism and postmodernism in its

commercial and institutional buildings, with a significant influence by hometown architect John Portman. A few notable buildings remain from earlier eras going back to the 1880s, but not a single building remains from the antebellum city, which Union troops burned to the ground in 1864.] Residential architecture in Atlanta's Intown neighborhoods, largely built between the 1880s and 1920s, is characterized by styles ranging from Victorian cottages to Craftsman bungalows to Revival styles; Atlanta's outer neighborhoods were built in post-World War II suburban styles. Historically, industry located next to the rail lines, and repurposed industrial structures can be found near those rail lines which both approach Downtown Atlanta from all directions,

as well as surround it in a belt pattern, passing through the city's inner neighborhoods.

Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting it its antebellum architecture. Yet Atlanta, architecturally, had never been particularly "southern." Because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city's landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest. After the war, Atlanta viewed itself as the leading city of a progressive "New South," and opted for expressive modern structures.

As a result of Atlanta's embrace of modernism, its cityscape is dominated by relatively recent architectural styles, containing works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century, including Michael Graves,Richard Meier, Marcel Breuer, Renzo Piano, Pickard Chilton, and locally based, internationally known Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam Architects. The city's skyline, which began its marked rise in the 1960s, is punctuated with highrise and midrise buildings of both modern and postmodern vintage. At 1,023 feet (312 m), Atlanta's tallest skyscraper—the Bank of America Plaza—is the 54th-tallest building in the world and the 9th tallest building in the United States.

The city's embrace of modernism and postmodernism resulted in an ambivalent approach toward historic preservation. Such an approach ultimately led to the destruction of notable architectural landmarks, including the Equitable Building (Atlanta's first skyscraper), Terminal Station, and the Carnegie Library. One of Atlanta's cultural icons, the Fox Theatre, would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s.

Atlanta contains more than 40 historic districts, nearly all NRHP-listed. The most notable residential historic districts includeDruid Hills, with its parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Inman Park with its Victorian mansions (also Olmsted), Virginia-Highland with its Craftsman bungalows, and Cabbagetown with its shotgun houses.

Notable industrial architecture includes Ponce City Market (formerly a Sears regional warehouse), the former Van Winkle Cotton Gin and Machine Works, Northyards (a converted roundhouse and rail yards), and other buildings in the Means Street Historic District, the proposed King Plow/Railroad Historic District, and on the Marietta Street Artery.The city is divided into 25 neighborhood planning units or NPUs, which in turn are divided into 242 officially defined neighborhoods.

The three major high-rise districts within the city limits form a north-south axis along Peachtree: Downtown, Midtown, andBuckhead. Surrounding these high-density districts are leafy single-family residential neighborhoods. Downtowncontains many notable skyscrapers, the most office space in the metro area and many government offices. Further north isMidtown Atlanta, a major employment center, including many law offices. Between 1990 and 2010, a skyline of office and residential towers took shape. Upscale retail stores are opening, though scaled down from previous (2006) plans. Buckhead is eight miles (13 km) north of Downtown. The wealthy suburban area developed into a major commercial and financial center after Lenox Square mall opened in 1959. Skyscapers and hotels surround the mall, and around this commercial core are neighborhoods of single-family homes ranging from upper middle-class to very wealthy.

Atlanta's east side is marked by historic streetcar suburbs built from the 1890s–1930s as havens for the upper middle class. Each of these neighborhoods are unique, containing separate commercial villages surrounded by leafy, architecturally distinct residential streets. East side neighborhoods include Victorian Inman Park and Grant Park, craftsman Virginia-Highland andKirkwood, and Bohemian Candler Park and East Atlanta. In West Midtown, former warehouses and factories have been transformed into condos, apartments, retail space, art galleries, and sophisticated restaurants. It is largely in these areas where the gentrification of Atlantahas taken place, transformed the city since the 1996 Olympics. As of 2010, Buckhead and northeastern Atlanta were on average 80% white. Downtown, Midtown, West Midtown, and some close-in east side neighborhoods were the fastest growing areas of the city from 2000 to 2010.

Predominantly black neighborhoods cover 60% of the city's area: northwestern, southwestern, and southeastern Atlanta were 92% African American as of 2010. In Southwestern Atlanta, the areas closest to Downtown are streetcar suburbs such as the historic West End; these transition into postwar suburban neighborhoods, including Collier Heights and Cascade Heights, home to the city's established African-American elite. Further out are newer neighborhoods that are also havens for middle-class and upper-class black homeowners. From 2000 to 2010 there was rapid population loss in northwestern Atlanta (−24.1%) and southeastern Atlanta (−20.5%), while small areas at the far west perimeter like Ben Hill grew quickly The population of the Atlanta region spreads across a metropolitan area of 8,376 square miles (21,694 km2)—a land area larger than that of Massachusetts. Because Georgia contains the second highest number of counties in the country, area residents live under a heavily decentralized collection of governments. As of the 2000 census, fewer than one in twelve residents of the metropolitan area lived inside Atlanta city proper.

EconomyAtlanta is one of ten U.S. cities classified as an "alpha-world city" by a 2010

study at Loughborough University and ranks fourth in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered within city boundaries, behind New York City, Houston, and Dallas. Several major national and international companies are headquartered in metro Atlanta, including four Fortune 100 companies: The Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, and Newell Rubbermaid. Over 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. As of 2006 Atlanta Metropolitan Area ranks as the 10th largest cybercity (high-tech center) in the US, with 126,700 high-tech jobs.

Delta Air Lines is the city's largest employer and the metro area's third largest. Delta operates the world's largest airline hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and, together with the hub of competing carrier AirTran Airways, has helped make Hartsfield-Jackson the world's busiest airport, both in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft operations. The airport, since its construction in the 1950s, has served as a key engine of Atlanta's economic growth.

Atlanta has a sizable financial sector. SunTrust Banks, the seventh largest bank by asset holdings in the United States, has its home office on Peachtree Street

in downtown. The Federal Reserve System has a district headquarters in Atlanta; the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which oversees much of thedeep South, relocated from downtown to Midtown in 2001.  National financial services company Foundation Financial Group has its mortgage operations headquartered in the Galleria-area. City, state and civic leaders harbor long-term hopes of having the city serve as the home of the secretariat of a future Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Atlanta's biotechnology sector is growing, gaining recognition through such events as the 2009 BIO International Convention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are located adjacent to Atlanta and to the Emory University campus, with a staff of nearly 15,000. Atlanta is also the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II.

The city is a major cable television programming center. Ted Turner began the Turner Broadcasting System media empire in Atlanta, and established the headquarters of the Cable News Networkat CNN Center, adjacent today to Centennial Olympic Park. As his company grew, its other channels centered their operations in Atlanta as well. Turner Broadcasting is a division of Time Warner. In 2008 Tyler Perry established his studios in Southwest Atlanta; and in 2010 EUE/Screen Gems opened soundstages in Lakewood Heights, south Atlanta. (See also: Film industry in Georgia (U.S. state)) The Weather Channel has its offices in the Cumberland district northwest of downtown Atlanta.

Cox Enterprises, headquartered in Sandy Springs, has substantial media holdings in and beyond Atlanta. Its Cox Communications division is the third-largest cable television service provider in the United States. Culture

Atlanta, while geographically at the center of the American South, has a culture that is no longer strictly Southern. More than half of Metro Atlanta residents were born outside Georgia including 13% born outside the U.S. Atlanta's culture reveals itself at the High Museum of Art, the bohemian shops of Little Five Points, at its many neighborhood festivals, and in the cuisines from around the world found along Buford Highway.

Arts and entertainmentAtlanta has flourishing music, fine art, and theater scenes. It has also become

a major regional center for film and television production.The Fox Theatre is a historic landmark and is among the highest grossing

theatres in of its size. The city also has a large collection of highly successful music venues of various sizes that host top and emerging touring acts including the Tabernacle, the Variety Playhouse and The Masquerade.

The High Museum of Art is arguably the South's leading art museum. Other art institutions include the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA), the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, and the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory, containing the largest collection of ancient art in the Southeast.

Theater groups include the Alliance Theater, winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the internationally known Center for Puppetry Arts and dozens of other groups across the city and Metro Atlanta.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays at its concert hall at the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown, which also houses the High Museum of Art and Alliance Theatre.

The Atlanta Opera and TheAtlanta Ballet usually perform at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre at the city's northwest edge. Atlanta's renowned classical musicians have included conductors Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony's Robert Spano.

In literature, Atlanta has been the home of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, one of the best-selling books of all time; Alice Walker, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple; Alfred Uhry, playwright of Driving Miss Daisy, and Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Brer Rabbit children's stories. Famous journalists include Ralph McGill, the anti-segregationist editor and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. Atlanta is also the home of contemporary editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich, who is syndicated nationally to 150 newspapers.

Atlanta has become a major regional center for film and television production, especially since 2008 when Georgia state tax credits were increasedi.

TourismAs of 2010, the city is the seventh-most visited city in the United States, with

over 35 million visitors per year. The city was the 12th most popular destination for overseas visitors, who numbered 712,000 in total (2010).

Atlanta's museums, the High in particular are a great draw, as are the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, the Georgia Aquarium (the world's largest indoor aquarium), and the World of Coca-Cola.

Other museums include the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum, the Carter Center and Presidential Library, and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum(where Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind). Museums geared specifically towards children include the Fernbank Science Center and Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta. The Atlanta Botanical Garden, next to Piedmont Park, is home to the only canopy-level pathway of its kind in the U.S., 600-foot-long (180 m). Zoo Atlanta, located in Grant Park, is one of only four zoos in the U.S. currently housing giant pandas.

Outdoor events and attractions are plentiful. Piedmont Park hosts many of Atlanta's festivals, including the annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival, Festival Peachtree Latino, Music Midtown, and Atlanta Pride. Most older intown neighborhoods hold yearly festivals as well, such as the Inman Park Festival and Virginia-Highland Summerfest. Yearly traditions include the Southeastern Flower Show, and at Christmastime the Macy's (originally Rich's) Great Tree and "Pink Pig" ride at Macy's Lenox Square.