Author: Carolina Planning Journal

The Public Face of the ARRA. Photo Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters
Social Justice, Transportation

Employment Equity & Transit Construction

There’s a narrative surrounding public spending, and transportation infrastructure and transit projects are no exception. Typically regarded as short-term economic stimuli to a local economy, transit projects provide quality jobs and are investments in the future. Despite the current political climate around public spending, these jobs are generally popular because they are geographically constrained and cannot easily be outsourced. This perception was recently reinforced with … Continue reading Employment Equity & Transit Construction

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Economic Development, International, Placemaking and Design, Social Justice

Ravelejar: The Art of Neighborhood Branding (4/4)

Part 4: Defining Ravalejar, Redefining El Raval Public art and monuments function to institutionalize the memories of a city. It has been argued that certain monuments in Barcelona seek to maintain  social order by imposing a historical logic over space: one that is imperialist, masculine, and fixed. However, the public art project and branding campaign known as “Ravalejar”, which took place in the neighborhood of … Continue reading Ravelejar: The Art of Neighborhood Branding (4/4)

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Economic Development, Research Triangle, Social Justice

Why Pay Living Wage? Because it’s the Right Thing to Do

In Durham recently, some businesses are beginning to raise wages because they want to do well by their employees. Voluntary living wage certification programs have gained popularity in the last few years as a way to make wage gains without calling for legislative action or government spending. The Durham Living Wage Project (DLWP) in Durham, NC, began in early 2015 and has already certified 75 … Continue reading Why Pay Living Wage? Because it’s the Right Thing to Do

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Economic Development, Placemaking and Design, Research Triangle

Art as An Economic Mobilizer in the Carolinas

Arts and culture have become widely accepted instruments for economic development and revitalization. Coming into public consciousness perhaps most recognizably in the work of Richard Florida and his theories of building, or rebuilding, a city around the creative class. Nebulous as they are, arts and culture are the protean intangibles in many urban planning projects, sought after to attract well-educated, mobile citizens. One form of … Continue reading Art as An Economic Mobilizer in the Carolinas

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Research Triangle

Happy New Year from the Carolina Planning Journal!

2015 was a great and productive year for The Carolina Planning Journal! We published Volume 40 of our print journal, “Planning for the New Economy;” we launched our online platform, Angles; we met with planning practitioners at the North Carolina American Planning Association conference in Raleigh, NC, and with planners from all over the nation at the 2015 American Planning Association conference in Seattle; we … Continue reading Happy New Year from the Carolina Planning Journal!

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Placemaking and Design, Transportation

Placemaking, Underground: BART to Revitalize all 44 Stations

This article is adapted from a piece originally published by Rachel Wexler and Rachel Dinno Taylor in San Francisco Planning and Urban Research’s [SPUR] journal The Urbanist, on May 11 2015. Transit hubs are often massive, and massively underutilized, public spaces. Take for example the Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] and San Francisco Muni Metro systems. Nearly 500,000 riders traipse the drab halls of these transit stations, heads down … Continue reading Placemaking, Underground: BART to Revitalize all 44 Stations

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Land Use and Environmental Planning, Transportation

Seven Things Planners Need to Know About Airports

Planners who aren’t familiar with their local airport can easily overlook the facility. Here is what you should know: Our aviation system is expansive: At any given time, there are around 7,000 aircraft in the air over the U.S. which are being served by airports of varying sizes and roles. Only 12 percent of the public airports that receive federal funding are primary commercial service … Continue reading Seven Things Planners Need to Know About Airports

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Economic Development, International, Placemaking and Design

Ravelejar: The Art of Neighborhood Branding (3/4)

Part 3: Balancing Neighborhood Character and Tourism Part 1 of this series (“The Barcelona Model”) was published on this site on September 30, 2015. Part 2  (“Constructing the Mythology of Barrio Chino”) was published  on October 17, 2015. In 2002, several public and private entities in Barcelona came together to form a new community organization called Tot Raval (“all of El Raval”). The formation of Tot Ravel … Continue reading Ravelejar: The Art of Neighborhood Branding (3/4)

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Personal Reflections, Social Justice

When Nature Calls: The Right to the Restroom

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared sanitation a basic human right, but even urban centers like New York City lack adequate public restrooms to serve the millions of residents and tourists. New York restaurants that contain 19 or fewer seats are not legally required to contain restrooms, but police can still charge citizens with a misdemeanor offense for urinating in public when they … Continue reading When Nature Calls: The Right to the Restroom

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal
Education, Land Use and Environmental Planning, Original Research, Research Triangle

Planning for Schools in Raleigh, NC

Wake County, North Carolina is growing, and fast.  In 2013, to better manage this exponential growth that adds 63 people per day, the city of Raleigh (at the heart of Wake County), adopted a new “Unified Development Ordinance” (UDO). The UDO has been successful in many respects by encouraging compact, pedestrian-oriented development to preserve natural resources and enhance overall quality of life1. In spite of … Continue reading Planning for Schools in Raleigh, NC

Unknown's avatarCarolina Planning Journal