Josh Green on Serenbe’s Growth and Why Storytelling Matters

Josh Green is an Atlanta-based journalist whose work has appeared in prominent publications such as Garden & Gun, Atlanta Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Urbanize Atlanta, where he covers the city’s evolving real estate landscape and development trends. Josh first visited Serenbe with his family all the way back in 2013 – and while he recognized its promise, he also saw that this budding community still had a long way to go. Since that first visit, he’s had a front-row seat to Serenbe’s evolution and he’s written extensively about the urban planning and architecture that make it stand out from Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs.

Beyond journalism, Josh is also an accomplished fiction writer. His debut novel, Secrets of Ash, earned the Indie Reader Discovery Award for Literary Fiction and earned him a nomination for the 2024 Georgia Author of the Year. His latest release, Goodbye, Sweetberry Park, came out just last month and is already getting rave reviews.

In this conversation, Steve and Monica sit down with Josh to talk about Serenbe’s transformation over the years, the importance of supporting local authors, and how storytelling helps us make sense of the places we live.

Show Notes

• Pre-Order Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where We Live with Radical Common Sense by Steve Nygren
• Urbanize Atlanta
• Goodbye, Sweetberry Park: A Novel of City Life, Creeping Gentrification and Flesh-eating Snakes by Josh Green
• Kirkwood Spring Festival | May 17 2025

• Gothic short stories and a comic crime thriller for spring reading (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

• Serenbe Unveils Plans for Large New Neighborhood with Central Park (Urbanize Atlanta)
• Serenbe at 20 (Urbanize Atlanta)
• Hollywood to Serenbe: Finding Magic in Community with Randy Zisk (Serenbe Stories)
• ARTS ATL
• Serenbe Events Calendar

Keywords: Josh Green, Serenbe, journalism, urban planning, novel writing, Atlanta neighborhoods, family experiences, book promotion, gentrification, Atlanta, built environment, biophilic design, architecture, design, nature, biophilia

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Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.