Articles
A bobwhite quail calling from the edge of a stubbled hayfield. Honeybees buzzing in every patch of clover. Fireflies hovering just beyond reach as dusk gives way to night. These are the images that come to mind when I think back to summers outdoors in the Uwharries when I was young. Little did I know […]
As a post-World War II, Sunbelt city that grew up in the age of the automobile, a car has long been pretty much a prerequisite for a comfortable and convenient life in Charlotte. Despite the completion of the Blue Line light rail, added miles of greenways and bike lanes, and new options like fleets of […]
Stephen Grotz is a Master of Architecture student at UNC Charlotte who conducts research in the City.Building.Lab. under the direction of Nadia Anderson. As the world sinks towards an unprecedented depression, now is the time to invest. The demand for the most valuable commodity in the world — human ingenuity — has not been this […]
This is the sixth article in an ongoing series, based on a report by the Urban Institute. The report was compiled with support from Bank of America, which partners with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and the Institute for Social Capital on research that provides insight into community initiatives. Join us Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. […]
After COVID-19, cities will change forever. Here’s a sampling of predictions I’m seeing: People will avoid close physical encounters. Or maybe not. Maybe they’ll flock to crowded bars and restaurants after weeks of lockdown. Stores, bludgeoned by pandemic closings and high rents, will fail. So will smaller, non-chain restaurants. Cities will become blander and more […]
Debbie Williams grew up in Charlotte’s Brookhill Village, a neighborhood of one-story duplex and triplex apartments built for black families in the 1950s. She has watched while its owners let the buildings deteriorate as luxury apartments began rising nearby. Two decades ago, she moved away. But her mother and sister remained in the low-rent housing […]
The novel coronavirus is extracting a terrible toll from our society, replete with mind-boggling statistics: A death toll of more than 100,000, 40 million people unemployed, a 95% plunge in airline passengers and so many more. The losses are immense. Grief is immeasurable. It’s still unclear how far-reaching and deep the economic pain we’re facing […]
We recognize the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor are connected to the same systemic and institutional racism that created and sustains the racial wealth gap. We recognize that addressing racial violence and the racial wealth gap is dependent on systemic and structural solutions rather than the individual solutions that have placed […]
June is almost upon us, and the rush of activity in the ponds, streams, and vernal pools of our state is already well underway. For many native frogs, it’s breeding season. Right now is a great time to experience the variety of nighttime songs that signal the return of summer in our waterways. The best […]
The English peas are finished. Given the long spell of mild weather we’ve enjoyed this year, I’d hoped this cool-weather crop might last a bit longer. Alas, they still flamed out in a matter of weeks. English peas (Pisum sativum) are the very essence of a Piedmont spring – sweet and tender and all too […]
This is the fourth in an ongoing series, based on a report by the Urban Institute. The report was compiled with support from Bank of America, which partners with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and the Institute for Social Capital on research that provides insight into community initiatives. Join us Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. on […]
When Paul Sires and his partner Ruth Ava Lyons started looking at the neighborhood that would become the NoDa arts district in north Charlotte back in 1983, it looked like opportunity. The main drag had a ribbon of historic buildings with “structural reality,” and the kind of masonry where the inside is revealed from the […]