Community Planning for Age-Friendly Communities: Orange County Creates Its Next Master Aging Plan

Orange County, NC is already a great place for people of all ages to live, but the county Department on Aging is leading an effort to become even more age-friendly. To achieve this goal, the Department is leading a comprehensive community planning process to create a five-year Master Aging Plan (MAP). Like previous MAPs, the 2017-2022 MAP will become a roadmap for decision-making and action around all things aging. Continue reading Community Planning for Age-Friendly Communities: Orange County Creates Its Next Master Aging Plan

After the Flood, the Decision to Rebuild or Leave Permanently

As I write this, residents from flooded neighborhoods in eastern North Carolina are sitting in crowded high school gyms, staying at area motels, and bunked with family and friends. While Hurricane Matthew threw high winds and storm surge at coastal communities, devastating flooding came to inland communities. Rivers bulged over their banks, entering homes and covering roads in a growing mass of moving water. When … Continue reading After the Flood, the Decision to Rebuild or Leave Permanently

Injecting Social Justice into Local Government

On September 28th, Durham City Councilwoman Jillian Johnson and Mel Norton of Duke University’s Cook Center on Social Equity visited UNC’s Department of City and Regional Planning to discuss with students and faculty the work of balancing social justice advocacy while serving in local government. Continue reading Injecting Social Justice into Local Government

Planning, Design, and Architecture for Affordability

Over the summer, design and planning professionals gathered at AIA North Carolina’s Center for Architecture and Design (CfAD) to attend an expert panel on the subject of alleviating homelessness through design. The conversation centered around a hypothetical, transitional housing community, that would be located outside of downtown Raleigh. This comes in the wake of the announcement of the finalists for Activate14’s Tiny Home Community Ideas … Continue reading Planning, Design, and Architecture for Affordability