There I was, pencil poised over a large drawing of Gastonia. It was 1997 and I was running a public workshop to design a network of greenways and open spaces for residents to enjoy as recreational and natural amenities. Someone in the...
David Walters is a British architect who has four decades of experience as an architect, urban designer and community planner. He is also a tenured full professor of architecture and urban design at UNC-Charlotte and the program coordinator of the Master of Urban Design program at the College of Arts and Architecture.
Walters earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK, and has practiced and taught in England, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina (since 1990).
Walters is a senior urban designer with The Lawrence Group, Architects and Town Planners. With The Lawrence Group, Walters has won state and national awards for urban design master plans, form-based codes and community planning projects based in Carolina communities. Walters is the author or co-author of three books: Design First: Design-based Planning for Communities (with Linda Luise Brown); Designing Community: Charrettes, Masterplans and Form-based Codes; and The Future Office (with Christopher Grech).
MOST RECENT POSTINGS
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 12:03
No, greenways are not a U.N. conspiracy
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - 07:53
Snapshots of a resilient America
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Amid the pervasive gloom and depression about the future of American cities I was lucky enough to visit recently two very different American places that hold out some hopes for a sustainable future here in the USA. On the face of it, Champaign-...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 16:40
Find true independence with streetcars, not freeways
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
A rare joy in Charlotte is being able to live a compact, transit-supported lifestyle, where soul-sapping commuter journeys on interstates or arterial highways can be avoided. My wife, Linda, and I have worked hard to craft such a lifestyle,...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 09:46
Failure of nerve: Bolder vision needed for an uncertain future
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Charlotte’s draft 2020 Vision Plan is a disappointing document. Despite the hard work, the glossy graphics are mostly pretty pictures of conventional thinking rather than visions for a different future.
A plan promoted as...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 - 07:43
What’s next for center city? Looking at the 2020 Vision Plan
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - 15:22
Back to the future
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Clearing out one’s office can be both cathartic and instructive. After 21 years at the School of Architecture on the UNC Charlotte campus, my office is moving into UNCC’s new Center City Building downtown.
Predictably, I...
Monday, November 22, 2010 - 15:43
The Future Isn't Free
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Charlotte is once more at a crossroads: future challenges abound—in education, environmental sustainability, and social equity to name only three. Even more important is the question of transportation infrastructure, and I make no...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 13:26
Learning Lesson on Infrastructure
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
I'm writing this essay because I'm worried. I've grown attached to America in the 27 years I've lived and worked here but I'm forced to look elsewhere for useful examples of government action, corporate innovation and...
Monday, August 23, 2010 - 09:47
Experiencing Cities: Convenience and Carbon
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
Published To: ui.uncc.edu --
One of the delights of an academic life is the opportunity to spend time in the summer traveling on research trips to foreign countries; there really is nothing like studious foreign travel to give useful perspectives on conditions here in...
