Articles

After three years of citizen engagement and the creation of a Regional Growth Framework for the 14-county Charlotte region, the CONNECT Our Future initiative moves into the implementation phase, to assist local governments in their individual efforts to realize the goals and objectives of that framework. One element of the implementation phase is a collaboration […]

Every neighborhood has a story, but often the people who live there don’t know what they are or where to find them. Does it have a special landmark that ought to be preserved? What about an interesting history? Maybe it has environmental treasures or distinctive architectural features. Materials from workshops available online. Click here to […]

It’s been said that good fences make good neighbors, but a dense, evergreen hedge can keep the peace and provide attractive wildlife habitat as well. Whether you live on a tenth of an acre in town or a hundred acres in the country, you always abut a property you cannot control, and sometimes a fence […]

A new book from UNC Charlotte educators and researchers examines the desegregation and resegregation of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools over the past 40 years, putting education reform in a political and economic context. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: School Desegregation and Resegregation in Charlotte, is edited by Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, a UNC Charlotte professor; Stephen Samuel Smith, a […]

For years subdivisions have been filling acres of farmland in Union County. Yet developers there are looking longingly at missed opportunities for restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores. Unincorporated Union County is dry. That means no public sale of beer or wine. No liquor stores. No liquor-by-the-drink. “I know there is interest in an upscale […]

I was fortunate to have a completely new and exciting hunting experience recently, going grouse hunting in West Virginia. I’ve not done much upland bird hunting, so it was different from most of my hunting experiences. It was both challenging and exhilarating, and I can’t wait to go again. Grouse live mostly in wooded areas, […]

Do you have a favorite Main Street, greenway, or historic rehabilitation? Join in this year’s competition to nominate and vote on your favorite North Carolina places. More information Visit www.greatplacesnc.org for more information, nominating forms and past winners. Great Places in North Carolina is an awards program created in 2012 to highlight North Carolina’s Great […]

The Council for Children’s Rights has partnered with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to create a locator map of “out-of-school-time” programs in Mecklenburg County. The interactive map allows users to identify programs based on a specific neighborhood location by zooming in on the map. Users can also select programs by location, program name, zip code […]

The following is excerpted, with permission, from The Margins of a Greater Wildness: Nature Essays on Stanley Creek and Beyond, a collection of essays on local topics from the Stanley Creek community in eastern Gaston County, where the Rankin family has lived for many generations. Most people around the Gaston County town of Stanley today […]

We hope you’ve enjoyed our offerings during the past year. In case you missed them, here are some of the PlanCharlotte.org 2014 articles that attracted the most readers. Cherry neighborhood rezoning sparks gentrification study After the approval of a controversial rezoning this spring in the Cherry neighborhood, one of the city’s oldest historically black areas, […]

Since the late 1990s, Charlotte has experienced a major policy shift toward creating more walkable streets. The evidence is seen in infrastructure investments that are making Charlotte a better place to walk. Yet the city still faces significant challenges: a legacy of our decades of auto-oriented development. On Monday, I gave a presentation to the […]

I have a notepad on my kitchen counter for a running grocery list, and there’s one on my desk devoted to errands and chores. I’ve kept a digital file of all the books I’ve read for more than 20 years. My nature observations are recorded in a hefty, leather-bound journal. Despite an obvious affinity for […]