Live in Midtown. Midtown will be the first area in the South to really resemble NYC, Boston, Philly, Chicago, or San Fran. This is my opinion and it is grounded in a bit of reality.
Buckhead is not truly walkable, but Midtown is. Midtown is also just as nice of an area as the Buckhead business district, but it is more compact and more walkable. Just look into it.
I live in Midtown and work in Buckhead. I work in a 3 tower development with shops and restaurants and services and an art gallery on the ground floor abutting the street and a covered courtyard, BUT across the street from me on either side are two strip malls. In Midtown you would not find a strip mall. ALL retail and restaurants and services are either in ground floor or in rehabbed buildings.
Also, Midtown is the hub of nightlife, gay life, and urban street life in Atlanta. It is situated around Piedmont Park, the best park in the South, and it is served by 3 MARTA stations. The museums are in Midtown, many of the good restaurants are, and the real estate market in Midtown is one of the strongest in Atlanta (about on par with Buckhead across all asset classes).
I predict that by 2020, Peachtree Street in Midtown will resemble to a degree the Magnificent Mile in 1990. We are 30 years behind Chicago, but we are catching up fast. Sorry to Dallas and Houston and while their metros are more urban than Atlanta's and while they are larger than Atlanta, their "cities" are not nearly as urban as Atlanta. And who cares about the suburbs right? Atlanta is fast turning into a real city. If you want to experience the transformation, experience it in Midtown, not Buckhead.
Downtown is on the rise, too, and is pretty darn urban and dense in areas, but can still be a bit sketchy for living (and I know plenty of people do, but I don't know if I'm up for that).