During the beginning of this semester, I immediately knew that I wanted to analyze the city of Decatur. My roommate is actually from Decatur, and the city is no more than 15 minutes down the street from the dorm. During the first built-environment assignment, we took a trip to Decatur to take a look around town and make observations. I was immediately taken aback by the friendly “tourist” like vibe I got from the city. There were many different small restaurants as well as coffee shops throughout the downtown area. I saw many families walking through the parks as well as live bands playing. The further I went through Downtown, the more I learned of the history of the city. We passed the Dekalb County Courthouse and were introduced to many large churches and temples in the area.  After seeing this, I was under the impression that Decatur was one of the best cities to live in with out any trace of poverty. After having one-on-ones with the professor, I realized that this was not in fact true. I had only seen the prosperous “good” part of Decatur and not the poverty-stricken parts of the city home to to many of the minority residents of the town. Realizing that I had only seen what the city had wanted me to see really showed how sometimes we as people try to hide the ills of society and paint a facade in its place. Thats why for my project I plan on taking an analysis on the true Decatur, both prosperous and poor. I want to see if there are any consistencies of either racial or economic segregation in the city. I want to understand why the city’s logo sign is placed by large houses and churches and not by subsidized homes or shacks. Doing so will help me understand if there are still any social problems that need to still be addressed in Atlanta. Since the beginning of class we have discussed how certain objects and barriers of been a way to separate certain subsections of the population from the majority population.  Decatur might have a train tracks that separates two distinctively different parts of town or may certain buildings architected in a way so that they can’t be used as a shelter for passing homeless. Any of these covert creations can be used as a way of legal segregation and want to see if the great city of Decatur is as great as it claims to be.

The purpose of my project is analyze any ways that the city of Decatur has separated people of different  racial or economic backgrounds.