• An (un)conventional, but globalizing Charlotte

    UNC Charlotte's Heather Smith, a geographer who studies Hispanic "hyper-growth" in the South, talks about Charlotte's growing role as a "globalizing" – not a global – city, and why she wasn't surprised when the Democratic Party chose Charlotte for its national convention.

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    Josh McCann
  • When cities, counties merge: Lessons for Charlotte?

    When it comes to city-county consolidation, citizens should know that nothing is guaranteed. And some of the commonly held beliefs about consolidation may not, in fact, be accurate. One prime example: Despite fears in Mecklenburg's towns, in many recent city-county consolidations the smaller municipalities in a county weren’t part of the merged body.

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    Suzanne Leland
  • Carolina Thread Trail takes steps toward reality

    Imagine being able to hop on your bicycle in Huntersville and pedal on greenways and trails to your job near UNC Charlotte. The Carolina Thread Trail promises to make  options like that a reality all over the Charlotte region. Try out our new, online map to help you find trails that are open and ready for you to explore.

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    John Chesser
  • Charlotte neighborhoods and the Great Recession

    How did the quality of life in Charlotte neighborhoods change from 2000 to 2010? Researchers believe the economic recession may have played a large part in some of these changes. Not surprisingly, impacts from the recession appear to be felt more strongly in neighborhoods that started with lower quality-of-life scores.

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    Sara Gleave
    Elizabeth Delmelle
  • Looking back, looking forward

    This has been a year of change and growth for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.  As I look back on the year’s highlights – and look forward to a new project we’ll debut early in 2012 – I’m reminded of the role the institute has played since 1969 in the greater Charlotte region.

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    Jeff Michael

SPOTLIGHT

01.25.12 - 03:12PM
Environment
Eye-catching purple gallinule rare in N.C.

A guess-this-bird photo contest last week on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Facebook page was just a glimpse of a really spectacular bird – one with shiny purple and green iridescent feathers, long bright yellow feet and toes and a white tail. I wasn’t familiar with it but was instantly intrigued. Despite the photo showing only the back side and legs, many other people  quickly identified it as a purple gallinule.

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Crystal Cockman
01.18.12 - 03:01PM
Environment
Save local forests: Use local firewood

Cutting your own firewood not only can help with the heating bill; it can stop the spread of invasive insects that travel long distances on firewood shipped in from other states.

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Ruth Ann Grissom
01.09.12 - 06:01PM
Environment
One-of-a-kind longleaf pine forest now protected

A newly preserved tract of longleaf pine is a stand of old-growth trees, some near 200 years old. Longleaf pine forests are a unique ecosystem with a whole suite of endemic species that call them home. ...

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Crystal Cockman