General News

Welcome to a new look for the PlanCharlotte.org web pages. You’ll find all the content from our previous set of pages, but with a new look. Why change? We have several reasons. It was time for a fresh look at our website, which we launched in March 2012. We also wanted a design that was, […]

A U.S. Postal Service change requiring the use of centralized box units in new neighborhoods is causing problems in some developments being forced to switch in mid-construction. Joe Padilla of the Charlotte-based Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, an industry advocacy group, alerted planners and elected officials to the change in home-delivery strategies at an […]

Baby boomers are not waiting around for someone to help them cross the street. The local organization of AARP sent out volunteers to assess how well some Charlotte intersections treat pedestrians, including those of AARP-membership age. As part of AARP Walkable Charlotte Week, about two dozen volunteers, armed with stop watches and digital cameras, evaluated […]

Baby boomers are not waiting around for someone to help them cross the street. The local organization of AARP sent out volunteers to assess how well some Charlotte intersections treat pedestrians, including those of AARP-membership age. As part of AARP Walkable Charlotte Week, about two dozen volunteers, armed with stop watches and digital cameras, evaluated […]

Once a myth takes hold in the fertile ground of the South, it often persists with a vengeance. Many people still believe early European settlers arrived to find an unbroken canopy of trees sheltering the Piedmont. According to Reed Noss, author of Forgotten Grasslands of the South, “The lack of awareness of native grasslands in […]

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department won’t pursue zoning regulations aimed at dealing with rent-by-the-bedroom apartment complexes near colleges and universities. But it will continue working to solve parking and transportation issues near the schools. The staff recommendation October 21 to the City Council’s Transportation and Planning Committee means students and residents living near UNC Charlotte and […]

If you’ve been paying any attention to national politics in recent weeks, you’ve surely heard remarks like: Why don’t politicians listen to the people? How can we get through to them? Why can’t government get anything done? But when people say “the government,” what government do they mean? It’s likely they’re thinking of the sclerotic […]

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s online publication, PlanCharlotte.org, has won a $12,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to boost a project that will look at Charlotte’s creeks. The grant from Knight Foundation Fund at Foundation For The Carolinas will pay a researcher in local history who will examine the role […]

Jody Pressley, project leader for the Transportation Information Management System, is featured in the November issue of School Bus Fleet magazine as one of “14 Phenomenal Women in School Transportation.” TIMS is a collaboration among the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, where Pressley works, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the Institute for Transportation Research […]

Sphingidae is a family of moths that are commonly referred to as hummingbird, sphinx or hawk moths. Some of the largest moths on earth, they have a heavy body and narrow wings. They are agile fliers and have the capability of rapid wing movement that allows them to hover over plants, and even move side […]