Mar 28 2012
*Note: This is a guest post by RayS in the other class, scribe for our all day field trip. Today we visited one of Charlotte’s waste water treatment plants, and did some water testing at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve! The waste water treatment plant was all about going to “away”. When you flush things down [...]
Jan 17 2012
*Note: This is a guest post by JordanI in the other class. In class on Friday we had a guest speaker, Garet Johnson of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department, she talked to our class about the future of Charlotte. She began by going over the four types of land use, which is residential, office (dentist), retail(store), [...]
Jan 17 2012
These basic principals are used to combat urban sprawl and develop sustainable and attractive communities. 1. Mixed Land Use – Live, Work, Play. 2. Range of Housing opportunities – income levels, taxes for services (South Bronx Effect) 3. Compact Building Design – Using less space, up not out. 4. Create Walkable Neighborhoods – cuts air [...]
Jan 16 2012
We’ve been identifying some urban and suburban areas in Charlotte and surrounding towns that are poorly laid out or show a lack of planning in our group flickr pool. What can cities do when there is a need to redo such areas? Here is neat 20-minute TEDTalk on the subject if you have time to [...]
Jan 10 2012
Check out a slideshow of all the pictures shared of good and bad urban design in Charlotte. The slideshow does not seem to work as well here (and is tiny), so visit our Flickr group pool and click on “slideshow” button above the pool to see all our pics and discussions: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pdsapes12/pool/
Jan 09 2012
Cities provide many social needs (jobs, social services, education, family planning, medical centers, arts programs) but also create some environmental problems. These web sites allow you to explore some major problems associated with cities and to explore some solutions. After you complete your research and notes, leave a meaningful comment or question about one issue [...]
Jan 09 2012
On Friday (1/6/12), we kicked off our study of urban planning by playing a simple online game called Urban Plan 2001. Today (1/9/12) we honored the grand champion of both classes, ConnorC (sorry TateK). Here is a screenshot of Connor’s city of 2 million plus people: Connor described some of the secrets of his success. [...]
