Bill Graves

UNC Charlotte
Associate Professor John H. Biggs Faculty Fellow Dept. of Geography and Earth Sciences

Biography

William Graves is an associate professor and John H. Biggs Faculty Fellow in the department of geography and earth sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. During 2005-06  Graves was a GlaxoSmithKline Faculty Fellow in the Economic Development of North Carolina at the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University. He teaches courses on the geography of North Carolina, the geography of knowledge and information, retail location and business applications of geographic information systems.

Education

Graves has a doctorate in geography from the  University of Georgia (2000); a master of arts in geography from the  University of Georgia (1994);  bachelor of arts in geography from the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990) and a bachelor of arts in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990).

Expertise

Impacts of economic change in the southeastern United States, particularly the development of advanced services within the urban South. A central theme of this research has been the role of financial systems in southern industrial transformation. A secondary line of research examines the impacts of globalization on Charlotte's urban form.  Some of this work appeared in Charlotte, NC: The Global Evolution of a New South City  published by the University of Georgia Press. 

Articles

  • Rebuilding the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection: Where do we go from here?
    ui.uncc.edu
    Nov 18, 2019
    Our purpose in studying the 32-county region wasn’t to merely document a Carolinas version of the familiar urban-rural divide. Instead, we sought to go beyond the conventional narrative of an irreversible split, and seek examples of connections –  either residual or new – between urban and rural communities. Connections that might provide opportunities for renewal in places still struggling to adapt to the changing economic landscape of the 21st century.
  • A border problem? Unexpected ways the state line influences our behavior
    ui.uncc.edu
    Nov 11, 2019
    We don’t often think about crossing state lines. Other than changes in gas prices or the availability of fireworks, there’s little visible difference as you cross from North Carolina into South Carolina, or vice versa. But that line appears to influence our behavior, at least when it comes to how we spend leisure time. 
  • People appear to commute farther for certain kinds of jobs
    ui.uncc.edu
    Sep 24, 2019
    To better understand commuter flows at select sites in the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection region down to the individual level, we studied anonymized cell phone tracking data. We sought to determine how commuter connections differ between types of business districts and types of firms. By mapping the residential location of workers at a broad range of employment locations, we were able to make some judgements about the local economic impact, and community-building abilities of specific business types. 
  • Commuting and the Charlotte region’s economic connections
    ui.uncc.edu
    Sep 24, 2019
    An array of environmental, cultural and economic connections together give rise to the interdependence of the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection study region.  But none of these connections are more economically significant than the flow of workers within our regional economy. Counties within the region relied on out-of-county commuters for their workforces more in 2015 than at any point in our history: nearly one-quarter of our region’s residents had jobs outside of their home county.
  • Defining our study area: How we picked the 32 counties
    ui.uncc.edu
    Aug 28, 2019
    The city of Charlotte has a long reach. While this is certainly not a surprise, we don’t really know much about how Charlotte influences its surroundings and how far this reach extends.  That question helped us pick our 32-county study area. 
  • Historical Overview Part 3: The rise of banking builds a globally connected region
    ui.uncc.edu
    Aug 28, 2019
    While Duke was building the world’s largest electrical network in the Western Piedmont, some Charlotte mill owners recognized that more money could be made loaning money to aspiring industrialists than making cloth themselves.
  • Historical Overview Part 2: Post-Civil War, the region becomes an industrial system
    ui.uncc.edu
    Aug 28, 2019
    From an agrarian system to an economy based on rural mills and factories drawing workers from former farms and sending goods to Charlotte for distribution, the region undergoes rapid change. 
  • Historical Overview Part 1: The early development of a connected region
    ui.uncc.edu
    Aug 28, 2019
    Charlotte and the surrounding counties have changed dramatically over the past 250 years, evolving from an agrarian backwater to a manufacturing powerhouse to a hub of global finance. It started with settlers looking for new land to farm. 
  • Will Americans continue to be suburban creatures?
    plancharlotte.org
    Jul 18, 2013
    The question is widely debated among experts and in the press. Do surveys showing more preference for walkable, in-town neighborhoods measure a fleeting fad, or portend the end of suburbia? A UNC Charlotte geographer looks deeper. (Photo: Nancy Pierce)
  • Will Americans continue to be suburban creatures?
    ui.uncc.edu
    Jul 18, 2013
    The question is widely debated among experts and in the press. Do surveys showing more preference for walkable, in-town neighborhoods measure a fleeting fad, or portend the end of suburbia? A UNC Charlotte geographer looks deeper. (Photo: Nancy Pierce)