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What can the community do to encourage and protect housing that more low-income families can afford? Three upcoming events at UNC Charlotte will look at the many interrelated issues, from development challenges to neighborhood action to innovations. All events are free and open to the public. FRIDAY, MARCH 31 – URBAN COMPLEXITIES: AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND […]

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is cosponsoring the fifth annual Urban Forestry Summit by the nonprofit group TreesCharlotte on Sept. 20 at UNC Charlotte Center City. The aim of the event is to share information and discussion about topics relevant to Charlotte’s urban forest. The event is free and open to the public but registration […]

Many parts of the Carolinas, including the Charlotte region, are seeing a huge influx of newcomers. Who’s moving in, and from where? How are they reshaping decades-old demographic patterns? For instance, Census Bureau numbers released in 2014 showed that New York sent more new residents to Mecklenburg County than did any other state, followed by […]

Are you new to North Carolina and looking to discover one of the state’s great main streets? Or are you a life-long resident searching for a new place to explore? Or do you want other North Carolinians to know about the great places in your town? Welcome to the fifth annual Great Places in NC […]

FOR UP-TO-DATE EVENT INFORMATION ABOUT KEEPING WATCH, PLEASE VISIT KEEPINGWATCH.ORG What creek is in your neighborhood? Where did it come from, and where is it going? Why was Charlotte settled amid so many creeks? Are urban streams important? Where does rainwater go? Can we do anything to help with pollution or flooding? Why should we […]

[highlight]Would more Charlotteans bicycle more often if the city had more bike lanes? More bike lanes protected from traffic? Or more off-road paths, such as greenways? Would showers and bike lockers at more workplaces encourage more bicycle commuting? Maybe, instead, the most important thing to do is offer better education, for motorists and cyclists, so […]

PlanCharlotte.org is asking readers to nominate spots in the Charlotte region that need a design makeover. (See our first installment in this series here.) Urban designers Keihly Moore and Alex Borisenko have launched a website, www.completeblocks.com, where they’re proposing a series of urban design retrofits, many of them nominated by readers. Among their designs so […]

There’s always a need for more public seating and bike racks in South End, especially now that food trucks and gallery openings are no longer a well-kept hot-spot secret, drawing hundreds of folks. Why circle the block multiple times looking for parking when you can roll up on two wheels right next to your destination? […]

If Charlotte is a city of neighborhoods, what happens when almost 20 of those neighborhoods spend a half-day at a retreat to encourage goal-setting? To find out, I spent Saturday morning at the City of Charlotte’s fourth Neighborhood Boards Retreat. Not surprisingly, the neighborhood representatives emerged with a cluster of goals. Representatives from 18 neighborhoods […]

PlanCharlotte.org is asking readers to nominate spots in the Charlotte region that need a design makeover. (See our first installment in this series here and our most recent installment here.) Urban designers Keihly Moore and Alex Borisenko have launched a website, www.completeblocks.com, where they’re proposing a series of urban design retrofits, many of them nominated […]