Articles
Leaders from across the region gathered Monday in a conference room at Charlotte Douglas International Airport with an ambitious goal: Creating a comprehensive plan for public transit, covering a dozen counties and setting the transit agenda for decades. Called CONNECT Beyond, the 18-month planning effort by the Centralina Council of Governments is, to put it […]
There’s a growing consensus that if we want to get out of the housing affordability mess we’re in, we need to hear a lot more swinging hammers. While local governments, including in Charlotte, have raised more money to subsidize affordable apartments and low-income rent payments, the scale of the problem is daunting. Mecklenburg County is […]
North Carolina is truly blessed with a fantastic and diverse system of state parks and nature preserves, stretching from the mountains to the coast. I’ve visited 19 of these in my 38 years, and I’m already making plans to see some of the ones I’ve missed. Below are some of my favorite experiences at some […]
A vacant park in a bustling downtown. A waterside bandshell and lawn that sit empty most days of the year. A busy intersection thousands of people drive through every day without a pause. In a fast-growing city that lacks parks and other public gathering spaces, planners are looking at ways to make these places into […]
UPDATE: The programs mentioned below have all been canceled due to coronavirus concerns. It’s all around us, but we usually can’t smell or see air pollution. A major art piece and a series of events coming to Charlotte this spring could help change that. “Most air pollution in North Carolina is invisible,” said June Blotnick, […]
Part 1 of this series focused on what ails bus systems in major U.S. cities, and how the Charlotte Area Transit System is attempting to reverse its own downward trend in bus ridership. But buses are only one piece of a complicated transit puzzle of what works, what doesn’t, and why. In his recent book, […]
The 2010s in uptown Charlotte were a decade with a split personality, starting with an epic crash and swinging to a huge boom that transformed the skyline and left an enormous mark on the city. At the start of the decade, rusting rebar poked up from the EpiCentre, a reminder of a condo project that […]
In more than three decades since she moved to the city, UNC Charlotte professor Deb Ryan has seen a lot of changes. She’s also helped guide those changes, as chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, founder of the Charlotte Community Design Studio, and a professor of architecture and urban design who led design work and […]
The skyline changes every year in a fast-growing city like Charlotte, as parking lots morph into high-rises and humble houses or older building are demolished to make way for the next big thing. It can be tough to keep track of the changes, and even harder to visualize what a proposed development might look like […]
Mama has a knack for finding four-leaf clovers. We’ll be strolling along, chatting, and she’ll stoop down and pluck one. She doesn’t break stride to stop and search – they just jump out at her. She doesn’t focus on finding the oddity. Instead, she takes in the sameness of the masses until something different catches […]
Naeema Muhammad, organizing co-director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, will speak on campus this week at UNC Charlotte. Muhammad’s work includes a focus on promoting health and equality for people around issues of air quality, water quality, coal ash, fracking and more, through grassroots organizing and grassroots solutions. Her career ncludes advocating for […]
As urban areas boom while many rural areas and small towns struggle, experts and local leaders are looking at success stories like Shelby’s embrace of its musical heritage as a roadmap to revitalization. The Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection A special project from the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute Read about the project here Introduction: Strengthening ties to […]