Although this trend toward the decentralization of a traditional downtown is happening all over the US, Atlanta has set a precedent in this particular direction. This achievement may have been prompted by the "self-interest" of developers like Portman, but they are real nonetheless. It has given Atlanta the opportunity to deviate from the generally expected notions of a city and to have multiple downtowns instead of a single one. This decentralized tendency can also be experienced within Portman's downtown in which each building is internally organized and has its own center. The repercussions of such a physical organization are many and, therefore, give rise to different interpretations.

The controlled environment that exists within Portman's buildings does not promote on-street activities; instead, it provides an active center within a complex of buildings. This is something we do not expect from the downtown of great American cities; the downtown that Jane Jacobs (in The Life and Death of Great American Cities) tried to revive in her crusade against the development of suburbs in America. Atlanta cannot claim to have a downtown that has a vital business and retail center, crowded with pedestrians and charged with excitement. But after two decades of accelerating change, Atlanta has become a city of not one but many downtowns and each one of them has its own specific character. There are automobile-oriented, suburban concentration of office buildings and suburban malls. There are also small-scale squares like the Virginia-Highlands and the Little Five Points that cater to pedestrian activity and movement.