My visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex began on November 5, 2008 about 15 hours after Barack Obama had been declared President-Elect and Texas had been affirmed as the only Electoral College-rich state in which the winds of change had not blown.  I had wondered on the airplane down if Texans would have strange looks of fear in their eyes or be talking endlessly about how the "liberal media" got Obama elected.  However, in the six days I spent in Texas I only ever heard a handful of people mention the election and most opinions were of shrugging the shoulders-type indifference.  Still, I had a minor chuckle when I landed at DFW (the world's third busiest by aircraft movements) and was greeted to the Lone Star State by the airport's address system inviting travellers to "...day after election prayers in the airport's chapel."  I wondered if I would have heard this address had the returns been different?  Were certain travellers who found themselves connecting in DFW running to the chapel to pray a little harder during their layovers?  While it can be easy to make generalizations about this part of the world, it is sometimes hard not to when greeted in such a way. DFW is located right in the middle of the Dallas-Forth Worth region, which is commonly referred to as the "Metroplex."  It is the largest metropolitan area in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States with a combined population of 6.3 million and is actually larger in area than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.  The Metroplex is home to many distinctions that are not commonly known until one researches the place.  For instance, there are more head-offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex than anywhere else in the United States, including New York City.  There is also more per capita retail in the Metroplex than almost anywhere else on earth.  These distinctions could easily leave one thinking that they are entering a top-tier alpha city of world-class shopping and global business acumen.  Yet, Dallas, and by extension the Metroplex, do not reveal itself as such a place.  Not to downplay these distinctions, but to genuinely wonder how a region this successful also manages to mostly fail at creating the urban context and excitement that many other regions of similar (or much lesser) distinctions so easily make.

I have recently changed jobs and was more than excited to find out that my new position would involve some international travel. Frankly, I've always dreamt of a job that included travel and was completely excited by the prospects of where I might be jaunted off to. Though, upon finding that my virginal business trip would be to Atlanta, I could not help but feel a bit of wind leave my newly erected sails. There is little doubting that Atlanta is a big international city with a ginormous airport, an "Olympic city," home to many of American's best-known corporations and even ground zero for the civil rights movement. However, to someone with an urban backbone it can fall very flat. I had also been once before and it had not made the best impression on me. Business is business though and off I went! I-75 Upon landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (the world's busiest), the urbanite in me was drawn towards the MARTA signs as the most sensible way into the city. However, my colleagues would not hear of it. This was a business trip after all! So we did what I suspected most Atlantans did and hailed one of those mini-van cabs for a trip up the I-75 to downtown Atlanta. A small part of me was glad though as one can only be impressed by the I-75 for many of the same reasons that one would find the 401 memorable through Greater Toronto. It is massive, it seems to do its job relatively well and it is unabashedly a product of its time. Unlike our 401 though, I-75 seems to act as Atlanta's main street. The businesses advertising on the radio are all a "five minute drive from the 75" and Atlanta's nodes are all neatly connected by it (i.e., airport - downtown - midtown - Buckhead). Moreover, it has a way of making Atlanta look thoroughly modern, confident and even inviting. So as the PoMo towers of downtown and midtown started peaking into view, with each gentle curve of the road, I could not help but get a little excited. Centennial Olympic Park Our hotel was located right next to Centennial Olympic Park. To be honest, the entire area around the park is a very strange experience. While the park is certainly nice and well-programmed, there is no neighbourhood anywhere near it. It is surrounded by most of Atlanta's major tourist attractions (World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center, The Georgia Aquarium) and most of Atlanta's downtown hotels. There are also a few office workers (primarily from CNN and Ernst & Young) mixed in. Still, it comes off as feeling very contrived and not a part of the real city that Atlantans partake in. Perhaps an idea in "Olympic building," but not "city building."  It would be sort of similar to having all of Toronto's hotels, plus the ROM, AGO, CN Tower and Casa Loma placed around Yonge-Dundas Square and removing any residential and commercial component from anywhere near Yonge & Dundas. Therefore, it basically becomes a playground for the tourists (and some vagrants trying to get money off the tourists).