Articles about the Economy

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Rebuilding the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection: Where do we go from here?
   November 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... Read more


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The changing economic development landscape
   November 5, 2019
Bill McCoy
Christa Wagner Vinson
“Regionalism” has become something of a public policy bromide these days — an unwritten assumption that informs the planning, economic and growth decisions that supersede any one political jurisdiction. But what is easy to say can be hard to do.  Read more


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What ties urban, rural areas together? Forum will highlight connections
   October 15, 2019
Ely Portillo
The Charlotte region rose to prosperity on the strength of ties between its rural areas and urban center, but those ties have frayed in recent decades, with the decline of the textile industry and Charlotte’s emergence as an independent finance center. The first annual Schul Forum Series, hosted by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, will examine what remains of those economic, social and... Read more


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Rural by Choice: Navigating identity in the Uwharries
   October 14, 2019
Ruth Ann Grissom
The narrative around rural areas has often held that people need to leave for a better chance to find success, typically in the city. But for many, leaving the place they love and call home never really feels like an option. Here are seven stories of people who are turning that narrative on its head.  Read more


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High rent, cost burdens, and inadequate supply: Five new, key facts about housing
   September 26, 2019
Ely Portillo
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are still facing a large gap between the supply of affordable housing and the number of residents who need it, as inreasing rents and a tight housing market are squeezing more families’ budgets and putting them at risk of housing instability, evicion and homelessness.  Read more


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People appear to commute farther for certain kinds of jobs
   September 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... Read more


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Commuting and the Charlotte region’s economic connections
   September 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... Read more


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How can we reconnect North Carolinians to opportunities and good jobs?
   September 10, 2019
Ely Portillo
To move up the ladder of opportunity, there’s generally consensus that people need jobs that pay a living wage, where they can grow their earnings over time. But what’s the best way to get workers, especially low-income workers with barriers such as low educational attainment, connected to those jobs? That’s the focus of the ReCONNECT to Economic Opportunity Forum, scheduled for Oct. 15 in... Read more


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Trails, roads, rails and sky: The changing physical connections that knit our region together
   August 28, 2019
Chuck McShane
A growing web of infrastructure and physical connections - both within the wider region and between the region and the outside world - has had a profound effect on where growth went, and where it stayed away from. People and industries in the Carolinas Urban-Rural Connection study area followed trading paths, railroads, highways and, now, air service. Read more


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Historical Overview Part 2: Post-Civil War, the region becomes an industrial system
   August 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.  Read more