The people have spoken, the March Madness-style stakes are huge, and Urbanize’s first-annual Suburban Smackdown tourney is about to begin!

As part of our efforts to spotlight the latest and greatest of metro Atlanta’s built environment, the time has come to crown the region’s top Outside The Perimeter downtown, as determined by whatever criteria you see fit.

To come up with Best OTP Downtown 2023 seeding, we asked for reader nominations over the past week on the homepageTwitter, and Facebook. Dozens of votes flooded in, from Trilith to Sugar Hill. Both historic downtowns and smartly planned new city centers were eligible, so long as they’re within roughly a half-hour of Interstate 285.

Alpharetta takes pole position in 2023 with the most nominations of any OTP downtown, followed by Roswell, Marietta, Lawrenceville, Woodstock, and so forth.

Similar to our Best Atlanta Neighborhood contests in 2021 and 2022, OTP competitors will be vying for the ultimate nonexistent trophy: the Golden Urby Chalice of Champions.

Oh, plus the chance to prove yourself proud and victorious in front of readers across metro Atlanta—and bragging rights for a full year.

So here’s the Sweet 16. Get your OTP city pride ready. First round of competitions begins later this week! 

Any predictions? 

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