Sun Belt
Austin voters approve $7.1B transit plan. Is Charlotte next?
When it comes to Charlotte’s transportation ambitions for the coming decades, the biggest question is simple: How will the city pay for it all? Austin, Tex., could point to an answer. Voters there approved a $7.1 billion transit plan on Election Day this year, with 58% supporting the referendum. The plan will raise property taxes […]
Sun Belt cities are driving much of our urban growth. Let’s study them.
The U.S. population, like that in Charlotte, is growing, and much of the growth is in the cities of the Sun Belt. A new report from a Houston university research center says the country should be paying more attention to those Sun Belt cities – treating them as a specific genre that needs its own […]
Houston finds $220 million to build greenways
In addition to studying how to accommodate growing ethnic diversity – needed in many cities, not just Houston and Charlotte – there’s another lesson Houston might hold for Charlotte: Finding the money to build out an ambitious greenway plan. They call them bayous. We call them creeks. But both Houston and Charlotte have a number […]
Can Sun Belt sibling cities learn from each other?
HOUSTON — One city was built on oil and shipping in a hot, humid swampy spot laced with small waterways. Its former biracial dynamics have changed, as immigration boosted Latino and Asian populations. It’s growing rapidly – and that includes rapid growth in income inequality. Another city was built on textiles and banking in a […]