General News

Charlotte faces a wide range of needs, from affordable housing to more police, bigger parks and better transit, but they all share a similar root cause: growth. That was one of the main themes at City Council’s annual planning retreat, held this week over four days in Durham at the Washington Duke Inn. There was […]

There’s been a lot of planning lately for Charlotte’s growing transit system, with new rail lines, improved bus service and the first inter-county transit links in the works — as well as questions about how to pay for that growth. But one Charlotte City Council member raised a different idea this week at the group’s […]

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is hiring an Associate Director of Research who will also serve as the Director of Community Research Services. The Director will serve as the day-to-day manager of the Institute research team and will manage ongoing tasks that enable the Institute to provide research with and for the Charlotte, North Carolina […]

A new, mixed-income housing development is set to take the place of a long-troubled, low-income housing complex in South End. Brookhill Village is a paradox: An oasis of affordability in the midst of a booming and fast-gentrifying part of the city, but full of run-down units, many of them boarded up and visibly decaying from […]

A film I recently watched at the Bechtler Museum about the planning conflicts between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses in 1950s New York City got me thinking about how issues with planners and the planning process play out today. (Disclaimer: As a teenage surfer in NYC at the time, I had a very high regard […]

HunterWood and several surrounding neighborhoods were carved from 200 acres once owned by the Hunter family, whose homestead still stands on Charlotte’s Sardis Road. The Rev. John Hunter, installed as the minister at nearby Sardis Presbyterian Church in 1859, began assembling the property during the Civil War in the 1860s and lived there until he […]

This is the second part in a two-part series. Read the first story here

This is the first part in a two-part series. Read the second story here

Most people who hike trails don’t take time to think about who makes and maintains paths through the woods. In the Uwharries, as in most recreational areas, most trail-building is done by dedicated volunteers. The Uwharrie Trailblazers club hits the trails every second Saturday of the month to help maintain and establish trails in Randolph […]

It’s hard shopping for the city that has it all: Gleaming office towers, a new-ish light rail line, a booming population and one of the world’s busiest airports. But that doesn’t mean Charlotte couldn’t still use a few gifts this holiday season. After all, despite the city’s obvious and explosive growth, there are still plenty […]