General News

By Charlotte Urban Institute
On February 1, 2024 more than 175 people attended the 2024 Schul Forum: Our Connecting Spaces where we examined the spaces and places where we connect with one another: our neighborhoods, schools, houses of worship, the places where we work, play, and create. We asked ourselves: What builds authentic relationships within them? What are the […]

By Ruth Ann Grissom
I often joke that I live in an urban version of Mayberry. Even though my neighborhood is within walking distance of Uptown Charlotte, it has a distinctly small-town feel. We have a colorful cast of characters. Thanks in part to the front porches, small lots and sidewalks, we get to know each other. News travels fast […]

By Katie Zager
New data from the American Community Survey(ACS) shows that poverty rates have decreased in Charlotte and surrounding areas. Among the 14 counties in the region, eight (60%) saw a statistically significant decrease in poverty. The region performed better than the nation as a whole, where about 36% of counties had a significant change in poverty rates […]

By Ruth Ann Grissom
The mild weather we enjoyed this Christmas was a stark contrast to the extreme cold we endured around the holidays last year. The string of lows in the single digits and teens affected my garden well into 2023 […]

By Kailas Venkitasubramanian, Ph.D.
How can we understand Charlotte’s urban growth more holistically? With the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer, of course.

By Lori Thomas
December marks the midpoint in our academic and fiscal calendars at UNC Charlotte. It’s a time when the buzz of the holiday season adds a layer of exams, grading, and graduation. And just as quickly, faculty and staff on campus begin preparing for the semester to come, the remainder of the academic year. Sometimes it’s…

I always scan those year-end “best of” lists for new reading material. In that spirit, I’d like to share the books I’ve read this past year related to nature and the environment. The books appear roughly in the order I read them, not in any order of preference. Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers […]

What happens to the community needs of an existing population when out-of-town movers relocate to their city? Do they dry up like raisins in the sun? Not exactly, but the resources existing residents need to thrive, and the amenities they desire, could be reprioritized if they aren’t equally shared – or aligned – with those […]

Despite higher housing costs, more adults in Mecklenburg County are living on their own. Over the past eight years, Mecklenburg County has seen a decrease in the number of adults living with non-relatives (presumably roommates), and an increase of adults living alone, or with their own children. Fewer adults are doubling-up. In 2022, about one […]

As leaves waft through the air and settle on the ground in the coming weeks, it’s a good time to consider that many butterflies, moths, fireflies, bees and other beneficial insects spend at least some portion of their life cycle in or under the leaf litter beneath our native trees. The term soft landing might […]