General News

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is one of the busiest hubs in the world, despite the city of Charlotte’s modest size. That disproportionate air service is usually cited as one of the city’s biggest economic advantages, making the airport one of our most important economic engines. But COVID-19 impacted the air travel industry in a profound […]

After almost two years of pandemic-related challenges, the Charlotte Area Transit System is trying to balance the need to restore service and lure back riders with the need to grow and meet the challenges of a growing region. And CATS chief executive John Lewis has a simple message: Charlotte’s transit system needs more money if […]

This story was originally published in Transit Time, a newsletter jointly produced by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, WFAE and The Charlotte Ledger. Mercedes and Ed Hampson moved to the Cresswind 55+ community near Mint Hill in November of 2020, and when one of their two cars kept going on the fritz, they faced a […]

In 2020, Lookout Housing Ventures proposed a redevelopment plan for Brookhill Village, a 36-acre naturally occurring affordable housing development near the intersection of Remount Road and South Boulevard. Although the proposed development has not moved forward, the approximately 120 households of Brookhill Village may be at risk of displacement if Brookhill Village were to be […]

What if the future is not just a continuation of present trends, but looks radically different? That’s the vision of Curators, a collective of young, multinational designers who hope to develop new, innovative and sustainable ways of life in Charlotte. Join us as we talk about two pilot ideas they want to see happen in […]

No spiderworts. No asters. No threadleaf ironweed or liatris. Very few brown-eyed Susans and even fewer green beans. That was the sorry state of my garden last year. No, it wasn’t weather-related, it was rabbit predation. My neighbor and I noticed a rabbit hanging around our yards last winter. One of its back legs was […]

There’s consensus in the new crop of local transportation plans: Whether we’re talking about trains, buses or roads, we’ll have to cross county borders and state lines to fund and operate an effective transit system. But in the traditionally siloed Charlotte region, how do we actually create some kind of regional entity — and who […]

TALKING POLICY IN THE QUEEN CITY FOURTH ANNUAL TALKING POLICY IN THE QUEEN CITY Friday, February 11, 2022 A Virtual Event, Free and Open to the Public The Fourth Annual Talking Policy in the Queen City event will mark the 20th anniversary of UNC Charlotte’s Public Policy Doctoral Program. Public policy experts will converse about […]

Charlotte’s proposed $13.5 billion Transformation Mobility Network is in limbo. City staff and council members seem paralyzed about when to approach Raleigh — and with what message. Congestion relief? Economic development? Economic mobility? There is, however, another way. The city can just build the plan itself, or more realistically build part of the plan itself. […]

Update: The deadline to apply for the fourth cohort of Gambrell Faculty Fellows has been extended to April 15. Interested faculty can download the application materials here. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is seeking the fourth cohort of faculty fellows to research issues related to economic mobility in the Charlotte region, with support from The […]