Articles
“Did you know? Charlotte’s going to ban single-family zoning!” I overheard this at a local coffee shop the other day. I should have walked over and told the speaker that’s not true, but I was too shy. So let me say here, very clearly: It is not true that Charlotte planners intend to ban single-family […]
A steady rain of giggles falls on a busy street in uptown Charlotte. A neat row of seesaws undulate back and forth, bright LED strips highlighting their movement, as elated, carefree riders push off. The smell of food trucks serving eager patrons wafts through the air. Parents watch, relaxed, knowing they don’t have to pull […]
Nothing speaks of the winter sky quite like a flock of blackbirds flying in unison above a sprawling pasture, field or marsh. They spiral and bank and funnel, breathing life into a void of leaden gray. It’s a spectacle you won’t observe in any other season. In the Piedmont, these flocks are often composed of […]
Ads have been running for months, streets are blanketed with yard signs and North Carolinians have cast early ballots, but with Super Tuesday this week, the presidential election officially kicks into high gear locally. In addition to being a swing state, the national spotlight will be on North Carolina — and Charlotte — for several […]
There’s a growing consensus that if we want to get out of the housing affordability mess we’re in, we need to hear a lot more swinging hammers. While local governments, including in Charlotte, have raised more money to subsidize affordable apartments and low-income rent payments, the scale of the problem is daunting. Mecklenburg County is […]
Leaders from across the region gathered Monday in a conference room at Charlotte Douglas International Airport with an ambitious goal: Creating a comprehensive plan for public transit, covering a dozen counties and setting the transit agenda for decades. Called CONNECT Beyond, the 18-month planning effort by the Centralina Council of Governments is, to put it […]
North Carolina is truly blessed with a fantastic and diverse system of state parks and nature preserves, stretching from the mountains to the coast. I’ve visited 19 of these in my 38 years, and I’m already making plans to see some of the ones I’ve missed. Below are some of my favorite experiences at some […]
A vacant park in a bustling downtown. A waterside bandshell and lawn that sit empty most days of the year. A busy intersection thousands of people drive through every day without a pause. In a fast-growing city that lacks parks and other public gathering spaces, planners are looking at ways to make these places into […]
UPDATE: The programs mentioned below have all been canceled due to coronavirus concerns. It’s all around us, but we usually can’t smell or see air pollution. A major art piece and a series of events coming to Charlotte this spring could help change that. “Most air pollution in North Carolina is invisible,” said June Blotnick, […]
Part 1 of this series focused on what ails bus systems in major U.S. cities, and how the Charlotte Area Transit System is attempting to reverse its own downward trend in bus ridership. But buses are only one piece of a complicated transit puzzle of what works, what doesn’t, and why. In his recent book, […]
The 2010s in uptown Charlotte were a decade with a split personality, starting with an epic crash and swinging to a huge boom that transformed the skyline and left an enormous mark on the city. At the start of the decade, rusting rebar poked up from the EpiCentre, a reminder of a condo project that […]
In more than three decades since she moved to the city, UNC Charlotte professor Deb Ryan has seen a lot of changes. She’s also helped guide those changes, as chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, founder of the Charlotte Community Design Studio, and a professor of architecture and urban design who led design work and […]