Articles
More than two years ago, the idea emerged from workshops sponsored by Historic South End to plan and develop a new system of parks and public spaces along the LYNX Blue Line. As of last month, the idea of creating more beauty and excitement in the area is closer to materializing. Charlotte Center City Partners […]
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 and our most recent installment 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 […]
After the approval of a controversial rezoning in one of the city’s oldest historically black neighborhoods this spring, City of Charlotte officials are looking at the changing face of many of the city’s close-in neighborhoods. At a June meeting, members of the City Council’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee told city staff to study ways […]
Ruth Ann Grissom As a girl, I once had a vision of a grand flowerbed – a large rectangular plot of red, white and blue petunias replicating the stars and stripes of an American flag. This must have been the summer of 1976, during the celebration of our country’s bicentennial. When I presented the scheme […]
The old photo shocked me. I was researching Charlotte’s urban renewal, and amid faded images of long-demolished homes in and around uptown was a large old house on Dilworth’s now-affluent East Kingston Avenue. But in the 1960s parts of Dilworth were considered blighted. Dilworth was not demolished for urban “renewal.” Instead, young Baby Boomers moved […]
I’ve spent the spring and early summer in pursuit of a tiny, black and yellow bird with a buzzy song – the black-throated green warbler of the Uwharrie National Forest. It’s made for an experience I’ll never forget. As a Duke University graduate student, I’ve been an intern during May and June with the LandTrust […]
Malmö, Sweden, may seem a lot farther away than Minneapolis, where a local delegation of Charlotte Chamber and other civic leaders recently visited to get ideas for urban development, but in today’s global culture, it is much closer than one might think. I spent a memorable week there during an 18-day study tour, exploring five […]
North Carolina is a beautiful state filled with unique features. The state’s majestic mountains, picturesque Piedmont farmland and tranquil beaches provide a variety of habitats and recreational opportunities. This diversity makes it a marvelous place. With the spectacular beauty of our mountains and coast in North Carolina, the Piedmont often receives less recognition. The Uwharries […]
In this new series, PlanCharlotte visits planners from around the 14-county Charlotte region. In this first installment, we head east to Albemarle. Much of the Charlotte region is fast-growing, but Albemarle’s population has remained flat. Keith Wolf has been with the city’s planning department since 2004 and planning director since 2011. He talked about economic […]
The KEEPING WATCH initiative, a three-year collaboration of historians, writers, artists, scientists and environmental experts, has gained more funding support. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation awarded UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture $10,000 to support the program. The initiative – whose key partners at the College of Arts + Architecture and the UNC Charlotte […]
Concerns about pedestrian safety in South End – and the rest of the city as well – prompted the Charlotte City Council on Monday to order a closer look at what might be done to speed improvements. Council members’ concerns come after a spate of negative publicity about Charlotte walkability. A national report last month […]
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 and our most recent installment 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 […]