City/Cité: Walking on Earth: Public Walk

FREE

Come along for this urban hike through the South River watershed as we imagine a radical new kind of trail experience for Atlanta—a path devised to experience the culturally rich and ecologically diverse tapestry of the city on foot.

Led by metro Atlanta natives Hannah Palmer and Carley Rickles, with partners from Marseille (France), Alexandre Field, Paul-Hervé Lavessière, Geoffroy Mathieu, and SAFI (Stéphane Brisset and Dalila Ladjal), this all-day walking tour is the culmination of a 4-day Metropolitan Trails workshop with local and international artists, urbanists, architects, and students. 

The hike is an opportunity to test our ideas as we traverse interstate highways, public parks, historic neighborhoods, urban farms, and unexpected creative spaces. Part workshop, part meditation, the hike will include stops for foraging, storytelling, picnicking, water sampling, and listening to business owners, residents, naturalists, artists, historians, and farmers. Like any good hike, we might get lost, distracted, or delightfully surprised by what we notice along the path.

This public walk begins at 9:00 a.m. at the Five Points MARTA Transit Station. We’ll meet at the Peachtree Street entrance. From there, we will trace the hidden source of Intrenchment Creek downstream where it daylights. We plan to conclude the walk at an urban farm in Southeast Atlanta. Hikers will make their way home on foot, by MARTA bus, or rideshare.

Know before you go:

● While we’ll move at an easy pace with lots of stops, this activity will be physically demanding. Many parts of the hike will not be accessible to people with physical disabilities. Good walking shoes or hiking boots are essential.

● This hike will take place rain or shine. Bring umbrellas and rain gear as needed. In the event of extreme weather, we will notify attendees about cancellation by 8:00 a.m.

● Children and youth that are under the direct supervision of a parent or adult are welcome.

● Bring plenty of water, snacks, and a sack lunch. There will be opportunities to stop at cafes and convenience stores for additional snacks and bathroom breaks.

● Bring cash to support local businesses that we pass along the way.

● Bring insect repellent, sunblock, sunhats, sketchbooks, cameras, and waders if you have them.

● The hike is 5+ miles, one-way. It begins and ends at locations accessible to public transportation—the Oakland City MARTA transit station and MARTA bus routes 155, 55, and 78. Return transportation to the trailhead is not provided.

● Feel free to join us for all or part of the hike. A detailed itinerary will be provided to registered attendees.

About Metropolitan Trails

Metropolitan Trails are a new kind of public space. Rather than built infrastructures that reshape communities, they are social platforms designed to reconnect us to the land and to each other for a vital conversation on post-petroleum cities. Metropolitan Trails are an international urban innovation, born in France and Europe.

As part of City/Cité, a program presented by Villa Albertine, in partnership with France Atlanta and the Atlanta Design Festival, Atlanta is joining a network of cities like Paris, London, Istanbul, and Boston in reconsidering public space through urban trails.

About City/Cité – Towards Earthly Cities – Atlanta, Oct 11-22, 2023

City/Cité is a transatlantic cooperation and exchange program on urban issues and city making, initiated by Villa Albertine. City/Cité has helped create partnerships between French and US cities, where they can share their experiences and explore new ways of making their cities better: Chicago & Paris, Oakland & Saint-Denis, and, as of 2022, Atlanta & Marseille are all working together.

From October 11-22, 2023, Villa Albertine presents “City/Cité -Towards Earthly Cities,” a program inviting professionals from Atlanta and Marseille and the public to learn together about the ecological city of the future.

About Atlanta Design Festival

Over the week-long event, Atlanta Design Festival invites the brightest creative leaders and organizations from Atlanta and around the world to host installations, exhibitions, design and architecture tours, film screenings, conference panels and more, to showcase Atlanta as a global powerhouse and innovator of ideas.

Highlighting a range of design practices including architecture & product design, digital & tech, marketing & advertising, Atlanta Design Festival welcomes audiences of all kinds to engage, experience, and enrich the cultural capital and creative communities of Atlanta. Atlanta Design Festival is produced by MA! Design is Human.