• N.C. tax reforms: 1921, 1933 and maybe 2013
    Analysis

    As N.C. legislators debate whether or how to reform the state’s tax system, it’s worth taking a look at the principles that should underlie any sound taxation system – and at how two key proposals for change stack up against those principles.

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    Benjamin Russo
  • Can Charlotte growth policies get smarter?

    How can the city of Charlotte boost its neighborhoods? What national trends should developers, planners and neighborhood residents be aware of?  How do different development patterns affect the need for city spending? Those topics and more will be part of a public lecture Tuesday, sponsored by PlanCharlotte.org and the City of Charlotte. The event will be 6-8 p.m. at UNC Charlotte’s center city campus.

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    Mary Newsom
  • Metro changes affect Charlotte and regions across the country

    Recent changes to the way metropolitan areas are defined added nearly a half-million in population to Charlotte’s MSA, making it the 23rd most populous in the country.  How did these changes unfold in Charlotte's peer metro areas?  Some, like Atlanta and Minneapolis-St. Paul, expanded, while others remained unchanged or even declined.

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    Laura Simmons
  • Carolina metros: Changes in the landscape

    In the Carolinas, only Charlotte’s metro area tops 2 million people. Raleigh is roughly half Charlotte’s size at 1.2 million. These two metros have pulled away from the pack of the other Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the Carolinas; no others top 1 million in population. Ten years ago, the metros in the two states were surprisingly different.

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    John Chesser
  • Putting a local food twist on suburbia

    The Farmstead, a 126-acre development waiting to break ground in Rowan County, has been trying to bring to life a concept called “agriburbia,” a blend of suburbia and agriculture that would offer local food options to homeowners.

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    Corbin Peters

SPOTLIGHT

05.15.13 - 03:23PM
Environment
A walk in the woods
Have you ever wondered what you might see if you spent a whole weekend outside just looking? How about if you could also bring a few expert field biologists and naturalists with you?
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Crystal Cockman
05.08.13 - 09:00AM
Nature
White trees in our forests and yards
Mama says my love of white flowers comes from my great-grandmother, Lillian Hilliard.  When Grandma Noona and Pa Atlas moved to a tidy brick ranch house in Farmer, N.C., she parted with the ungodly sum of $100 so she could plant four sizable Southern magnolias in her front yard.
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Ruth Ann Grissom
05.01.13 - 07:07PM
Nature
A snake that comes in many colors
A friend of mine recently rescued a snake from the parking lot where he works, and released it back into the woods. He sent me a picture asking for help identifying it. The coloration threw me off a bit, so I had to ask an expert.
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Crystal Cockman

Websites of the
UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute


uiri pc