This reminds me of Atlanta. There are a lot of areas where buildings are down and boarded up, but those building could be right next to a high rise or an establishment that was just built. So, I disagree with this statement because, yes sometimes you can definitely tell the economic standing of an area based on it buildings and roads. But Atlanta is a perfect example of an area that is very mixed in especially downtown Atlanta.

This just remind me of African art. I have a lot of statues, masks, and paintings and each artifact can tell a story of a different tribes history or even an emotion that the artist wants to convey.through that art piece. I also think the same can be said for architecture.

I agree, because just like any profession. One has to study and work to sharpen their skills. Especially, because there are so many different types of buildings in the Us let alone around the world. To be the best at Vernacular Architecture one would need to know the language and the culture of many different places.

I never thought about analyzing buildings in this way, but it reminds me of the same way you would examine a picture. In order to properly analyze a building and tell its story you have to use all the physical characteristics as well as your experience and any remaining documents to piece together what the culture/society was like for the people of that time.

In the article, "The morbid and total toll of sprawl", Steuteville states how the design of roadways are the main cause for fatalities. This is interesting because I see this becoming a reality. The roadways have become a symbolic representation of our society. Atlanta is a perfect example, we have 8 lane expressways, the traffic is horrible, and there is always an accident. This has become a norm in our society, so I definitely agree that buildings and architecture in general "reflect our cultural values".

I also feel that another drawback of trying to determine history through buildings is that it is based on perspective. I can look at a building and all of of its evidence and draw a different conclusion that someone else. But I guess that can be said about history in general.

I feel that this is exactly what is being done with the transit-oriented developments. The idea is to be as effective as possible without having to do extra work. I feel that the developments put everything in one place. Isn't that what a person looks for when deciding where to live or even where to stay when picking a hotel in a different city? The idea of convenience and accessibility is always going to be important. I also feel that overtime, as the developments begin to age, the area will establish its own culture and personality that will tell a story.

The article, "MARTA Breaks Ground on First Transit-Developemt Project" by Tasmin Shamma is a plan devised to help flourish and advance the community. The first location is Edgewood-Candler Park MARTA station. The developments will have apartments, restaurants, entertainment like a dance hall that can also be used for educational purposes.There will also be a park and traffic plans to help ease the hectic traffic in the area.

The development is going to be funded privately by a developer called Columbia Ventures LLC. The project is estimated to cost about 40 million dollars. With the help of these developments, MARTA is expected to see a large increase in the number of riders. Shamma also discusses how with the easy access of transportation next to these developments, there will no longer be a need for parking. The idea is to make everything easily accessible for the residents in the area. A percentage of the living complexes will be made affordable for people of lower incomes. This is just at the Edgewood-Candler locations.

There is talk about other developments around the city. the plans is to have a total of 6 transit-oriented developments in areas like Avondale, Chamblee, Brookhaven/Oglethrope University, King Memorial and the Lindgergh Arts Center station. http://news.wabe.org/post/marta-breaks-ground-first-transit-development-project

The article, "The morbid and mortal toll of sprawl" by Robert Steuteville is an article about how the design of roadways have played a large role in traffic deaths. The article tries to bring awareness by pointing out how the roadways have changed since the 1950's.A graph displays the the comparison of traffic fatalities before the 1950's and now. There is a clear discrepancy.

People love to claim that distracted driving is the leading cause of accidents but in actuality it is the architectural design of the roads. Steuteville claims that the reason for this climb in casualties is due to the road designs. They have made drivers feel comfortable. Wide lanes and large intersections encourage speeding and careless driving. Compared to other countries the US is dragging behind on road safety.<br> https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2016/08/26/morbid-and-mortal-toll-sprawl

I found this interesting because in the article by Robert Steuteville that discusses fatal car accidents, he states how the roads are "built with “forgiving design,” encourage drivers to step on the gas in highly populated urban areas, and pure physics increases stopping distances and impact forces geometrically” (Steuteville 2016). If you look at the roadway systems of other countries like Paris against the U.S. the difference in culture is clear. Only considering the roadways, Paris has very narrow and small streets and the same can be said for the cars driven. But in the U.S., the expressways can have as many as 8 lanes for a single side. Like the article states, the more space the faster and more careless driver can be. In Paris is it difficult to speed because the roads are so narrow and do not leave much room for mistakes. I find this to be a great example to show how the architecture can explain a culture and the history of a region so just image how much more insight one can gain from looking at buildings. https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2016/08/26/morbid-and-mortal-toll-sprawl