Metro Atlanta's walkable urban places are attracting an increasing share of new development, and have seen a rise in rent premiums over drivable suburban areas. Walkable community development is having a significant impact on economic growth and real estate and building development in the Atlanta region, and across the nation.

''The WalkUP Wake-Up Call: Atlanta,'' a study released Oct. 4, 2013 by Chris Leinberger of the George Washington University School of Business (Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis), asserts that ''WalkUPs'' will drive tomorrow's national real estate industry and the economy.

''WalkUPs'' means walkable community development, as opposed to suburban sprawl, which typifies the dominant development model of the second half of the 20th Century. The "drivable suburban approach" is evident in metro Atlanta, but Leinberger says the pendulum is swinging back to building walkable urbanism, the dominant pattern prior to the Great Depression.

Leinberger believes WalkUPs, once a niche market, will drive tomorrow's national real estate industry and the economy. He further believes metro Atlanta's example of replacing urban sprawl with successful walkable communities is a harbinger for the rest of the country.

Study Highlights

• From 1992-2000, roughly 13 percent of real estate investment in the Atlanta region went into current and emerging WalkUPs. From 2001-2008, that number doubled to 26 percent. Since 2009, metro Atlanta's share of development in WalkUPs more than doubled again, reaching 60 percent today.
• Current and emerging WalkUPs account for 1/200 (.55 percent) of the region's land area, and 1/5 (20 percent) of the region's office, retail and other commercial real estate.
• Current and emerging WalkUPs contain 22 percent of the region's jobs.
• Average rent for all development types in current WalkUPs is 112 percent higher than in drivable suburban areas.
• Only 19 percent of office space delivered in the 1990s was built in then-established WalkUPs. This increased to 31 percent in the 2000s and to 50 percent in 2009-2013.