GET INVOLVED

The power of active citizenship and civic engagement in seeking justice for youth

The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing protests for racial justice have shone a spotlight on the social inequalities present in our country. This is especially true within the U.S. education system. The current state of our country highlights just how inequitable access to education is, and conversations around access to healthcare, affordable housing, poverty and racial […]

Turning to a board game for insights on planning Charlotte’s growth

What can a board game – especially a wonky, policy-oriented board game – teach us about how Charlotte should grow over the next two decades? Local officials are hoping the answer is quite a lot. As work on the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan rolls on, and city officials rework the rules governing development into […]

Thoughts on a journey through small-town America

For more than four years, James and Deborah Fallows explored parts of the country that can sometimes get overlooked by the national news media. Flying their own plane, and writing pieces for The Atlantic magazine, they discovered a richness and vibrancy in cities as large as Columbus, Ohio and as small as Ajo, Arizona. Their […]

New way to learn what Charlotte-Mecklenburg thinks: YourVoiceCLT

Members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community have a new way to share their opinions on a variety of issues with the launch of YourVoiceCLT. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, in partnership with researchers from the university’s Ph.D. in Public Policy Program and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, has developed YourVoiceCLT, a Charlotte community […]

Study: Charlotte region lags in food economy, farmers markets

The Charlotte region lags comparable areas in the robustness of its local food economy across multiple metrics, concludes the draft of a year-long study by the City of Charlotte. The report from consultants KarenKarp & Partners examines the state of farming in the metro region, the landscape of farmers markets in Charlotte, wholesale activity in […]

Uptown art to ‘Edge City’ growth: Learn Charlotte on foot

[highlight] THE 2018 CHARLOTTE CITY WALKS HAVE CONCLUDED FOR THE YEAR. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE PLANCHARLOTTE.ORG NEWSLETTER (SEE SIGN-UP AT RIGHT ON THIS PAGE) TO BE NOTIFIED ABOUT 2019 CHARLOTTE CITY WALKS[/highlight] [highlight]SEE THE LIST OF 2018 CITY WALKS [/highlight] Charlotte neighborhoods have stories to tell – stories many residents have never heard. Explore […]

What’s a UDO? A Place Type? Summit aims to improve public understanding

If you pay attention to Charlotte growth topics, you may have heard some unfamiliar words recently: Place Types. UDO. If you’re not a planner or a developer, or even if you are, those terms may baffle you. We hope what follows can help you sort out what it all means. Why now? The City of […]

Visiting planning expert talks about the need for a city vision

As Raleigh’s chief planning and development officer for nearly a decade, Mitchell Silver oversaw the rules that shaped development in that fast-growing city. Silver, president of the American Planning Association 2011-2013, will talk Thursday in Charlotte about the importance of having a vision, and what must happen after that vision is created. The event is […]

Five Points, like Belmont, to get taste of tactical urbanism

If you drove down Belmont Avenue during one weekend in late September, you might have seen people in orange vests painting chairs, tables, kiosks – even crosswalks. They had come out to begin the transformation of Belmont Avenue. Community members, project leaders and employees of the nonprofit Better Block Foundation had come together to create […]

How can more people be inspired to civic involvement?

What motivates Charlotteans to vote? Volunteer? Hold political conversations or attend events? The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and Johnson C. Smith University, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Google, have spent the past 11 months studying civic engagement in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The project, “Charting the Civic Landscape […]