If Atlanta Is a City in the Forest, Should the Forest Feed Us Too?

By Neil O. Campbell
Governance Ecosystem Designer and Founder, Living Ecosystem Design

What if one of the most important things we can restore in our neighborhoods is not a building, street, or park, but the everyday conditions that help people become neighbors? The built environment cannot manufacture community values, but it can create places where connection, stewardship, belonging, and intergenerational relationships are easier to rediscover. From the front porch to the sidewalk, trail, garden, park, and neighborhood gathering place, this article explores what earlier communities may have understood about human connection that modern development should not leave behind, and how future neighborhood improvements can build upon those enduring foundations.