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Just saw Charlotte featured on CNBC in regards to the new Urbanism Developments. Just curious as to how its going. It was heralded sort of as a model city of how the urbanism movement should proceed. Me being a young professional, am quite curious about similar movements around the country. Houston is doing a poor job (awesome city!!!!), but not really geared for those who prefer walking over driving. I'm more interested in the development of urban/industrial lofts and really modern (danish inspired) town homes. Just soliciting opinions.
"New Urbanism" was nothing but a farce cooked up by the media to convince the individuals and governments to support the building of tiny condos selling at extremely high prices. It was all part of the housing bubble scheme, which has popped, including here in Charlotte. Nobody is interested in it now.
It's a great example of why you shouldn't pay pay attention to CNBC or any of NBC's by-products.
never heard of it. and, Charlotte is NOT a place where people can walk places. Even if you DO walk, you run the risk of cars jumping onto sidewalks and killing you. (true story). So, not sure what this is about...but, it's NOT about Charlotte!!
I would need to see a link on this as my experience in Charlotte is that it is NOT a pedestrian friendly city overall. There are some pockets of sidewalk/stoplight friendliness . . . but overall, this is not a particularly pedestrian or bike friendly city.
However, maybe the article is focusing on one small area - wh/ is why I would need to see a link so I could find out what is really being referred to.
I didn't know that there was a problem with cars jumping on curbs and hitting people. Oh well, I suppose off the wall comments are always good for the sake of conversation.
Charlotte is not the best city for walking (nor the worse) although I don't blame sidewalks, ped crossings, or other factors. I blame random crime and a weak court system that only slaps the hands of hardened criminals for repeat offences and puts them back on the streets . I would love to be able to walk from uptown to Elizabeth, NoDa, Wesley Heights, Elizabeth, Music Factory, or many other cental locations after dark. It is not safe if one is alone. It reminds me of New Orleans. It was safe there as long as one remained within a couple of blocks of Burbon Street. Unfortunately the infusion of high crime areas within a two mile radius of central Charlotte destroys any chance of safe nightly strolls.
That being said, there are neighbourhoods that are very good for walkers. These are Dilworth, Southend, Myers Park, and Lake Norman towns and others.
I really don't see Charlotte as being better or worse than most American cities of the same size or larger with similar demographics. Walking in U.S. cities isn't exactly like walking the streets of Vienna or Budapest. I believe that is why villages like Ballentyne, Berkdale and others are a new concept where neighbours tend to enjoy a sense of community and safety and neighbors are more cognizant.
I do believe that Charlotte is making great progress with improving the components that make walking, biking, or hiking possible. The limitations are those that present the threat of crime.
Last edited by newcomerfromuk; 06-06-2011 at 08:55 AM..
Charlotte did just get ranked one of 11 most walkable cities from the Pedistrian and Bicycle Information Center. I think the inner ring around Uptown is very walkable now and if Grubb builds up Elizabeth Ave as well as all of those big empty lots on South Blvd (along with many other places around town) there will be a very Urbanist feel. I get that vibe already and I think it will only get better.
Charlotte did just get ranked one of 11 most walkable cities from the Pedistrian and Bicycle Information Center. I think the inner ring around Uptown is very walkable now and if Grubb builds up Elizabeth Ave as well as all of those big empty lots on South Blvd (along with many other places around town) there will be a very Urbanist feel. I get that vibe already and I think it will only get better.
I wonder if the folks who wrote the article have actually visited Charlotte or just read the press releases from the city, lol.
Of course, Charlotte is very spread out city and mostly suburban - and when I think of that . . . I can't say Charlotte is a city where you can hardly get along without a car - and you are not gonna survive well with a bike, either. But maybe I am not narrowing it down to a specific enough area.
Well there are two specific New Urbanist developments in the Charlotte metro area that I can think of, Birkdale in Huntersville and Baxter in Fort Mill. These are the specific developments that were probably highlighted. They are better than your typical cookie-cutter sprawl, but they still exist within a car-dependent environment with no functional connectivity to their surroundings. I think New Urbanist developments work best as urban infill as that context would make them truly urban in practically every sense of the word (such as what's planned for the old mental hospital campus (http://www.dpz.com/project.aspx?Project_Number=507&Project_Name=Bull+ Street - broken link) just down the road in downtown Columbia, SC), but if they are going to be built as greenfield developments, to be maximally functional given the suburban context, they need to have access to a regional rail-based transit system. This is why the New Urbanist town centers and developments in the DC region largely succeed.
Just saw Charlotte featured on CNBC in regards to the new Urbanism Developments. Just curious as to how its going. It was heralded sort of as a model city of how the urbanism movement should proceed. Me being a young professional, am quite curious about similar movements around the country. Houston is doing a poor job (awesome city!!!!), but not really geared for those who prefer walking over driving. I'm more interested in the development of urban/industrial lofts and really modern (danish inspired) town homes. Just soliciting opinions.
As always, thanks my fellow CD'ers.
We were down recently for a visit and are also looking to live (retire) in a walkable neighborhood. Here's my take on a couple of the developments mentioned in this article, which was written a few years ago:
Birkdale Village: Handsome and very nicely done, but it doesn't have a grocery store. The Architecture Week article explains why. It's really like an outdoor shopping mall, which means you'll find designer jeans and imported chocolates, but not, say, a shop that fixes vacuum cleaners. There are other businesses outside the village itself, but Catawba Ave, the main through street where the development is located, is very busy and not particularly pedestrian friendly. The area is served by a bus, the "Village Rider", which hits most of the commercial areas in Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson.
Baxter Village: Also very nice. Lovely, in fact. But its grocery store is outside the village, across a very busy road. If you wanted to walk there you would need to be alert. We have a vision-impaired adult in our family, so we scratched that as an alternative. Also only an express bus. No movie theatre either, which Birkdale Village has.
For our next trip we're going to be focused on Davidson, which we visited briefly. It is a "real" town, with most basic shops and services within walking distance of the residential neighborhoods that surround the downtown, including a small movie theatre, like all our small towns used to have, which has somehow survived the competition from the megaplexes. One can also attend plays and concerts at Davidson College. The town is pricey though. I have read the town's master plan, and what is interesting is that they specifically embrace new urbanism design principles in their vision of the future. We think Davidson may be a good choice for us, not only as configured now, but also as it is envisioned it to develop in the future.
Last edited by fromCT; 06-07-2011 at 10:24 AM..
Reason: left out text
Charlotte did just get ranked one of 11 most walkable cities from the Pedistrian and Bicycle Information Center. I think the inner ring around Uptown is very walkable now and if Grubb builds up Elizabeth Ave as well as all of those big empty lots on South Blvd (along with many other places around town) there will be a very Urbanist feel. I get that vibe already and I think it will only get better.
Maybe out in the burbs where the majority of C-D'ers live, there isn't much walkability and pedestrian friendly areas, but when I drive around a lot of the inner-ring neighborhoods, I do see a lot of bike lanes and pedestrian friendly areas! I also see a lot of people out jogging and walking in those areas, too! That one comment about joggers getting ran over by a car jumping a curve is rather funny, I alomst began laughing out loud in the middle of the Library, it was too funny, lol!
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