General News
Charlotte’s goal is to mix uses, but change is slow on the ground
Charlotte isn’t unique in the country in wanting to create more mixed-use development. As in many cities, leaders in Charlotte see advantages to encouraging the kinds of neighborhoods where homes, stores and workplaces are close to each other. It’s a more efficient use of land, can reduce infrastructure costs and traffic congestion, and can make […]
From food scraps to new business venture
[highlightrule] Three environmentally minded Charlotte entrepreneurs believe they can make a profit by diverting food waste into compost.[/highlightrule] Fact: Mecklenburg County residences generate some 60,000 tons of food waste annually, with only about 2 percent to 5 percent diverted from landfills by home composting. Fact: In Mecklenburg County, 22 percent of commercial solid waste (not […]
Fall 2015 could be a great year for meteor showers
Now that the autumnal equinox has passed, our nights will become increasingly longer until the winter solstice, but three major meteor showers will brighten our skies in the coming months: the Orionids, Leonids and Geminids. This year, the moon shouldn’t interfere with any of these events at their peak, so conditions will be optimal as […]
Teachers go back to school in the forest
[highlightrule] One map shows that almost every unprotected woodlot in the N.C. Piedmont is at risk of being lost to development.[/highlightrule] There’s a difference between spending time in the woods and understanding the complex dynamics of a forest. For far too many people, even outdoor enthusiasts, nuances such as species diversity and forest succession are […]
For better designed development, we’re going to need a better code
[highlightrule] Charlotte’s strong urban planning is torpedoed by weak urban design. To change that, the city needs a new type of zoning ordinance.[/highlightrule] Add together Charlotte’s apartment boom plus the reinvention of urban districts such as South End, Plaza-Central and NoDa, and you come up with a lot of questions. Residents complain about the neighborhoods’ […]
No flood in your city? Lessons from New Orleans still apply
When New Orleans flooded 10 years ago last month, it looked to many people in America as though the city could never recover. Today, when the word “resilience” dots virtually every scrap of writing on urban policy around the globe, New Orleans provides iconographic proof that a city is, in fact, a hard thing to […]
Charter, private, home school or CMS? Is enrollment shifting?
Are more Mecklenburg County parents these days opting for private school over public, or for charters or home schools? With the 2015-16 school year underway, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute researchers looked at how enrollment choices have changed for Mecklenburg families in the past 20 years. The animated graphic below shows how Mecklenburg County public, private, […]
Change is coming to South End. Don’t blame Gaines Brown
[highlightrule]As an important block on Camden Road faces likely development, its recent history tells a complex narrative of a once-derelict area and a man with a vision, and shows how success changes a neighborhood.[/highlightrule] Recent news that one of the last remaining sites in Charlotte’s South End is scheduled for high-density redevelopment should come as […]
Six ways to turn SouthPark into a great urban neighborhood
Density alone does not equate to good urbanism. Density is a necessary ingredient, but raw density of jobs, housing or retail does not create a great street, much less a great place. Parts of downtown Atlanta are a classic example of this. Those tall towers empty at 5 p.m., creating an employment ghetto in the […]
Celebrating five years in the digital world
Consider it a victory for the digital natives. When the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute was first considering creating a public policy journal focusing on the Charlotte region, our thinking was old school: Recruit talent from across the institute, university and region, and provide a quarterly print journal for them to share expertise and insights with […]