Articles About Environment and Planning
The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is marking its 50th anniversary in 2019-20 with a five-part series recalling its history. Sources for these stories include interviews, newspaper articles, university documents and two books – Charlotte and UNC Charlotte: Growing Up Together by Ken Sanford and Dean W. Colvard: Quiet Leader, by Marion A. Ellis. When Bill […]
The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is marking its 50th anniversary in 2019-20 with a five-part series recalling its history. Sources for these stories include interviews, newspaper articles, university documents and two books – Charlotte and UNC Charlotte: Growing Up Together by Ken Sanford and Dean W. Colvard: Quiet Leader, by Marion A. Ellis. In 1970, […]
In the far southeastern tip of Montgomery County, where Moore, Richmond and Montgomery counties all converge, a stream with an evocative name flows: Drowning Creek. Drowning Creek is a high quality stream, which means it has little pollution and good aquatic diversity. The creek flows southward into the Lumber River, which was originally called Drowning […]
Charlotte officials moved one step closer to a regional transit plan this week, approving an agreement with other government agencies to hire a consultant and craft a vision for the city and a dozen surrounding counties. While the Charlotte Area Transit System’s $50 million request for funding to plan the Silver Line light rail has […]
Where the hard rock of the Piedmont gives way to the sandy Coastal Plain, two company towns that lost their companies are looking for economic revival to the rivers that put them on the map. Great Falls in South Carolina and Badin in North Carolina grew up along the geologic fall line beside wild, majestic […]
“A bus ticket and a bologna sandwich.” That’s a colloquial interpretation of the solution many economists suggest for addressing economic challenges in rural areas – move to a city where there’s more opportunity. While this school of thought acknowledges barriers that can make it difficult to relocate – education levels, job skills, housing costs – […]
An outdoor, living exhibit on its way to the UNC Charlotte campus will tell the story of North Carolina through plants and crops crucial to the state’s development. A team representing the University’s Center for the Study of the New South, Botanical Gardens and Urban Institute received a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council […]
In 2018, Mecklenburg County issued over 5,000 permits for single family housing. That’s more than double the next fastest growing county: York, in South Carolina. But while Mecklenburg is still a major contributor to new housing in the region, it’s making up a smaller proportion of permits issued and now only accounts for about one […]
Nestled off a quiet street of attractive suburban homes in Waxhaw, there’s a quarter-mile trail in the woods along the Twelve Mile Creek. Near the end of a stone stairway is a striking sight: A 160-foot suspension bridge connecting Waxhaw, North Carolina, and Indian Trail, South Carolina. You can embrace the bridge’s wobbles during the […]
This is the first part in a three-part series. Read Part 2: ‘We needed to do something bold’ and Part 3: ‘A 38-year overnight success story’ for the next parts of the story. Thirteen years later, Brownie Plaster is still bemused by the chorus of laughs that rose one May afternoon in 2006. At the […]
Thanks to a brutal early fall heat wave, much of September felt more like July. As a result, I have not spent as much time outside as I would have liked. Last Friday, however, I was able to break away and spend the morning at Morrow Mountain State Park. A friend and myself hiked the […]
Charlotte has a reputation as a car city, but many of its leaders badly want to promote more biking, walking and transit use. That’s one reason an intriguing idea kept surfacing at this week’s City Council Transportation & Planning Committee meeting: Why not take all the cars off a major street in uptown or South […]