Dreams for blank walls

PlanCharlotte.org is asking readers to nominate spots in the Charlotte region that need a design makeover. (See our first installment in this series here.)

Urban designers Keihly Moore and Alex Borisenko have launched a website, www.completeblocks.com, where they’re proposing a series of urban design retrofits, many of them nominated by readers.

Among their designs so far are new visions for Rama Road, Monroe Road and Camden Street in front of the popular Price’s Chicken Coop. (Note: These re-imaginings are not official city plans, simply ideas for consideration.)

This week, urban activist Eric Zaverl suggests a visual upgrade for the Morehead Street underpass in South End. Where today a blank concrete wall exists, Zaverl suggests a mural of aspiration. The mural, by artists Jeff Thomas and James Helms, depicts “heroes” such as ballerinas and race car drivers, that children have dreams of one day becoming. The idea is that by creating interesting spaces, people will be more likely to want to walk around their city.