Category: Placemaking and Design

Placemaking and Design

The Battle for the Heart of [Downtown] Greensboro

Looking at a map of downtown Greensboro, it becomes apparent that something big is coming. The entire eastern side of the downtown is undergoing a major shift, and much of it is entrenched in public dissent tied to development choices being made by the City and local developers. This is apparent in various current projects in Greensboro, from the Tanger Performing Arts Center, controversy around … Continue reading The Battle for the Heart of [Downtown] Greensboro

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Placemaking and Design

Symbolism in Downtown Charlotte Public Art

Public art is crucial in representing many aspects of Charlotte’s history and character. An analysis of the structures and figures scattered throughout the uptown area gives a glimpse of the relationship between the art and the buildings around it. Through this analysis, we are also able to analyze the significance of public art to the history of Charlotte.   Starting with one of the most … Continue reading Symbolism in Downtown Charlotte Public Art

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Landscape Architecture, Placemaking and Design

Undergrads analyze UNC spaces

As part of the Community Design and Green Architecture (ENEC 420) course with Eric Thomas, the Project Manager and Lead Designer at Development Finance Initiative, undergraduate UNC students evaluated public space. Using video and behavior mapping techniques, students evaluated how different local spaces are used, or not, at different times of the day and on different days. They noted weather and other factors that would … Continue reading Undergrads analyze UNC spaces

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Personal Reflections, Placemaking and Design

Seeing the Weird in a Rapidly Changing Austin

Seeing the Weird in a Rapidly Changing Austin This winter break, I crossed another city/state off my bucket list by visiting Austin, Texas. Known for its unique flair (“Keep Austin Weird” is the city’s marketing slogan), music, barbeque, and other fried foods, the city’s rapid change in population over the last couple of decades has transformed its physical landscape. The US Census estimates that from … Continue reading Seeing the Weird in a Rapidly Changing Austin

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Bike Ped, Land Use and Environmental Planning, Placemaking and Design

Got Green Space?

Planning for Preventative Health Urban green space provides a place to escape the concrete and steel of urban city centers, spend time in nature, connect with others, and get moving. As Americans become increasingly sedentary, a push towards funding and implementing green space as a means of increasing individual health has gained traction. Doctors now write green prescriptions for patients to go walk at their … Continue reading Got Green Space?

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Personal Reflections, Placemaking and Design

Weaving together the Threads of Our Community: Weaver Street Market

This piece was originally published by UNC undergraduate students Adam Hasan and Ezra Rawitsch on their personal blog, Global Third Space, on June 15, 2017.  If the sun hadn’t traced a low, southerly path across the sky that morning, it’d have seemed like the first day of autumn. A chilly breeze wound its way through the enormous oak that hangs over the Weaver Street Lawn, and … Continue reading Weaving together the Threads of Our Community: Weaver Street Market

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Personal Reflections, Placemaking and Design

How Hey Arnold inspired suburban millennials to dream about the city

Nickelodeon 90’s cartoons largely reflect the suburban world that much of its young audience grew up in. Think Spongebob’s Bikini Bottom, or the Rugrats’ California single-family residential neighborhood. One show, Hey Arnold, stands out from the rest, taking its viewers out of the suburbs for a trip downtown. Continue reading How Hey Arnold inspired suburban millennials to dream about the city

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Opinion, Placemaking and Design

What Charlottesville Tells Us About Silent Sam

On Saturday August 12th, a white nationalist rally protesting the planned removal of a Confederate monument in Charlottesville dissolved into violence that left three dead and many injured. The circumstances that led to this tragedy bear an uncomfortable resemblance to events that took place less than two years ago at UNC, when Confederate heritage supporters rallied to defend Silent Sam. Then, as now, counter-protestors rallied … Continue reading What Charlottesville Tells Us About Silent Sam

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Personal Reflections, Placemaking and Design, Transportation

Everything You’ll Learn from an Urban Design Competition

I was sitting on a Chicago Transit Authority bus, a fitting location to receive the news, when I learned that our team of Department of City and Regional Planning students won an honorable mention in the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Ideas Competition. Continue reading Everything You’ll Learn from an Urban Design Competition

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Personal Reflections, Placemaking and Design

Virtual Reality Excites Again

I used to think virtual reality (VR) was a silly endeavor of the late 20th century. As a kid, I recall shooting at two-dimensional 32-bit flying aliens as the heavy headset kept sliding off my head. Even then, in the 1990s, I viewed VR as a sad excuse for a game experience. Gamers were better off avoiding the hassle of these clunky devices that did … Continue reading Virtual Reality Excites Again

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