Articles

[title_1]
Bridging the digital divide in Charlotte
   October 20, 2021
Ely Portillo

This project is part of the third cohort of Gambrell Faculty Fellows. Read about the fellows progam...

Read more


[title_1]
Building a more responsive, connected transit system
   October 20, 2021
Ely Portillo
Dr. Mona Azarbayjani
Dr...
Read more


[title_1]
Watch: Exploring the Racial Wealth Gap
   October 15, 2021

In Charlotte, as in other communities, the color of your skin correlates strongly to the amount of wealth your family is likely to have. Nationwide, White households have 10 times the wealth of Black households and 7 times the wealth of Latinx households.

How did this come to be, and what can we do to change it? On Oct. 12, we explored the roots and consequences of the racial wealth...

Read more


[title_1]
How can we measure the developmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young children?
   October 11, 2021
Sydney Idzikowski

Across the United States and around the world, children and families are starting a new school year. Typically a time of excitement and new beginnings, the first day of school has again been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We’ve learned a lot about the virus over the past 18 months. However, the ways in which COVID-19 impacts the youngest children (from birth to age 5),...

Read more


[title_1]
A bad year for butterflies
   October 11, 2021
Ruth Ann Grissom

As the goldenrod and blue mist flowers in my Charlotte garden began to fade in early October, so too did my hope for overcoming what appears to be a dismal year for butterflies across the Piedmont. 

My native plant garden is in an urban neighborhood. There probably isn’t enough intact habitat to attract or host anything rare, but I enjoy a nice diversity of common species throughout...

Read more


[title_1]
Despite plans to end traffic deaths, Charlotte is headed in the wrong direction
   October 5, 2021
Ely Portillo

It’s been more than two years since Charlotte signed up for an ambitious goal: Eliminate deaths and serious injuries from vehicle wrecks by 2030.

But this week, local officials told City Council members that the city is on pace in 2021 to equal or exceed the number of people killed last year. In 2020, 81 people died in crashes in Charlotte.

“Unfortunately, we're on track to...

Read more


[title_1]
Podcast: Celebrating good urban design in Charlotte
   September 27, 2021
Ely Portillo

When it comes to Charlotte's urban design, there's a perception that the city is dominated by apartments and bland, corporate towers. 

But a new award series is trying to prove that's not the whole story. The Charlotte Urban Design Awards (or Urbies) relaunched this year, co-hosted by the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture and the city of Charlotte, with the goal of...

Read more


[title_1]
Think Charlotte is bland? New awards celebrate good urban design
   September 27, 2021
Ely Portillo

When you think “Charlotte” and “urban design,” do you think “bland” or “exciting”?

A new awards series, the Charlotte Urban Design Awards, is meant to prompt you to think more of the latter and less of the former. While Charlotte might get an unfair rap as a city of bland office towers and five-story, stick-built apartments, the Urbies are highlighting some of the exciting design work...

Read more