Chattanooga, Tennessee: America's Favorite Town

At least, the favorite town of Outside Magazine's readership, in a survey of almost 22,000 readers. Outside says the factors that make Chattanooga hot range from "epic singletrack to progressive city planning."

1 minute read

September 13, 2011, 2:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Chuck Thompson of Outside Magazine says that Chattanooga is in the middle of a "civic and outdoor renaissance." The Cumberland Plateau and the Sequatchie Valley are two of the attractions cited by the magazine.

Aside from the sporty activities and natural landscape, Chattanooga is affordable and has an "unflashy yet relatively stable and diverse ­local economy."

Chattanoogans interviewed for the article have a number of negative things to say as well, but Thompson writes, "...the best cities are sometimes the ones that haven't quite arrived. They are places where people talk more about momentum and the future and promises yet to be fulfilled than about skyrocketing home values and what a bitch it is to park downtown."

Monday, August 29, 2011 in Outside Magazine

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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