Articles

Charlotte’s historic and well-loved streetcar No. 85 may have left town for a sojourn at the N.C. Transportation Museum, but another relic of public transportation history may be about to get a shot at local renown. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission is restoring a 1972-vintage bus in hopes it can somehow be put to use […]

As you may be aware, Charlotte is beginning a long-overdue rewriting of its zoning ordinance. To be sure, zoning tops many people’s list of the most boring and obtuse topics. So it’s easy to understand why this multiyear process might fail to generate much public enthusiasm or desire to participate. But zoning is much more […]

Lurking silently beneath the beauty of Charlotte’s tree canopy is a persistent problem with ailing trees. The issue significantly affects the city’s efforts to preserve and replenish its most treasured amenity. Major challenges include: Tree diseases The stresses of an urban, high-rise environment on uptown street trees The age of the tree canopy, particularly in […]

The trout lilies and trilliums are in full bloom, the turkeys are strutting, the smallmouth are biting, and the butterflies are flitting about in our fields and woodlands. One of the most common butterflies seen in our area is the Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Male Eastern tiger swallowtails are yellow with four black tiger […]

Most of the ideas about SouthPark offered last week by a group of out-of-town development experts were what you’d hope to hear from 21st-century planners: create connections, try public-private partnerships, build a better public realm. But a few of their comments might raise questions or even baffle some Charlotteans. The advisory panel from the nonprofit […]

Just as trees can improve the air quality in our communities, plants can make the air in our homes and buildings cleaner. UNC Charlotte Associate Professor of Architecture Jefferson Ellinger and his partners at Fresh Air Building Systems have been working for years to develop the AMPS (Active Modular Phytoremediation System), a “probiotic” plant wall […]

In North Carolina, we observe Arbor Day on the first Friday after March 15.Got that? Can you do the math? Let alone remember to put it on your calendar? Besides being an unnecessarily complicated date, it’s perilously late in the season to plant a tree in the N.C. Piedmont. The Arbor Day Foundation encourages states […]

When I came to UNC Charlotte as director of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute in 2003, the campus didn’t look all that different from the campus I visited in the 1980s to see family and friends at what many in the region still referred to as a “commuter school.” And for those students who traveled […]

[highlightrule]Trees reduce air pollution, improve water quality, save energy costs, reduce storm water runoff and enhance property values. And some would say Charlotte’s tree canopy also shapes the soul of the city.[/highlightrule] In Charlotte, a widespread passion about trees inspires a special sort of community activism, marked by a keen admiration of the beauty of […]

FIND INFORMATION HERE ABOUT MAY 2017 CITY WALKS NEW: GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR IDEAS YOU COME UP WITH ON A CITY WALK Get to know your neighbors and discover neighborhood stories by leading or taking part in a City Walk. City Walks are a series of free neighborhood walks—walking conversations—that put people in touch with their […]

Two new, high-visibility bicycling campaigns rolled out this week, each an attempt to get more Charlotteans riding—and with more support from the city. The most noticeable will be an Open Streets event on May 1, in which a city street, I this instance North Davidson Street, will be closed to motor vehicle traffic but open […]

[highlightrule]A little-known registry of Champion Trees includes 15 of Charlotte’s most magnificent trees, bringing more than a title to the Queen City’s crown.[/highlightrule] While civic pride reached heightened levels in Charlotte when the Carolina Panthers made it to Super Bowl 50 as NFC champions, it turns out there is another group of extra large, equally […]