Articles

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Metro changes affect Charlotte and regions across the country
   May 2, 2013

Changes to how metropolitan areas are defined added nearly a half-million people to Charlotte’s MSA, making it the 23rd most populous in the country. How did the changes affect Charlotte's peer metro areas such as Atlanta (pictured)? (Photo: dbking, used under CC-BY-2.0) Read more


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A snake that comes in many colors
   May 1, 2013
Crystal Cockman
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. (Photo: Crystal Cockman) Read more


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Resilience: Many cities, many meanings
   April 29, 2013
Mary Newsom
A resilient city can thrive amid challenges and survive disasters like earthquakes, rising sea levels and economic depression. But unlike so-called legacy cities, for a city like Charlotte the challenge has more to do with the future than the past. (Photo: Nancy Pierce) Read more


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Carolina metros: Changes in the landscape
   April 25, 2013

In the Carolinas, only Charlotte’s metro area tops 2 million people. Raleigh is roughly half that size, 1.2 million. No other Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the Carolinas top 1 million in population. But some of that is because the Triangle is not one MSA, nor is the Triad. (Bing Maps image shows the Carolinas without political boundaries.) Read more


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Appreciating an unsung N.C. pine
   April 25, 2013
Ruth Ann Grissom
In 1963, the General Assembly boldly proclaimed the official state tree of North Carolina would be – drum roll, please – the pine. The legislature missed the opportunity to herald an unsung hero that occurs in every region of our state – the noble shortleaf pine. (Photo: Ruth Ann Grissom) Read more


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Contest-winning photos evoke sense of place
   April 24, 2013
Mary Newsom
A moody night-time shot of a more than 200-year-old house outside Huntersville, and a sliver of a moon over uptown Charlotte. Those photos, by Kevin J. Beaty, were what cinched top honors in PlanCharlotte.org's one-year anniversary photo contest. (Photo: Kevin J. Beaty) Read more


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Explore CMS data at the school level
   April 18, 2013

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute has partnered with MeckEd to provide a series of interactive maps that allow the public to do their own exploration of CMS schools. Those maps have now been combined into a new interface that creates an integrated school data resource.  (Graphic: Zach Szczepaniak) Read more


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Longleaf, far as the eye can see
   April 11, 2013
Ruth Ann Grissom
A decade ago, the book Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest traced changes that reduced a forest once covering 92 million acres to less than 3 million acres. Now a new book offers a fresh perspective on longleaf pine forests. (Photo: U.S. Forest Service) Read more


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Celebrate Jane Jacobs with 2 neighborhood walks
   April 10, 2013
Mary Newsom
On Saturday, May 4, PlanCharlotte.org is sponsoring two Jane Jacobs Walks, part of a movement to honor the author and activist by getting people out walking a city neighborhood. The walks will be led by Tom Hanchett of Levine Museum of the New South and UNC Charlotte urban design Professor David Walters. Read more


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Rethinking high-stakes testing
   April 10, 2013

In today’s educational climate, testing scandals are commonplace. But does that mean that testing is wrong? Is it even possible to use quantitative test data yet avoid the pitfalls we're finding in high-stakes testing? (Photo: Nancy Pierce) Read more