News

A significant proportion of Gaston County residents get their drinking water from private wells and other unregulated sources, particularly in the county’s northern and western rural communities. Yet, only a small fraction of residents test their water regularly. A UNC Charlotte team of researchers and students will work with residents and county health officials to […]

A team including UNC Charlotte urban planning researcher Katherine Idziorek has received a nearly $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to advance research on how urban social and spatial systems can be organized to be more resilient and efficient. Read the full article here.

When major public investments are proposed in lower- and middle-income neighborhoods, it’s common to hear concerns about gentrification and displacement: Will the new rail line, park, or bike lane benefit the people who currently call the neighborhood home, or will it only lead to the displacement of existing residents and their replacement by higher-income households? […]

In a recent interview, Professor Magi described a network of low-cost air pollution sensors in North Carolina that he helped deploy in collaboration with non-profit CleanAIRE NC. The sensors are contributing new data to the network of Environmental Protection Agency regulatory air monitors around the country, and the low-cost sensor data is also helping to […]

GES Alumna Claire Schuch and PhD student Tonderai Mushipe publish article on perceptions of Charlotte light-rail expansion. Rail transit impacts on adjacent neighborhoods are contested. Through the lens of New Urbanism and sustainable urban development, this article offers a critical analysis of different perceptions of neighborhood changes occurring after the opening of a new light […]

In the 1960s and ’70s, a hypothesis took hold among researchers that African Americans in poor neighborhoods in big cities did not have easy access to low-wage jobs that were quickly moving to the suburbs. It was called spatial mismatch hypothesis. There were transportation challenges and Black families often couldn’t move to the suburbs because […]

As Charlotte grows rapidly, concerns about gentrification and displacement have become key issues for city government to address. Tracking gentrification and displacement can be challenging, as this process of neighborhood change is slow and takes many forms across space and time. However, when analyzed with viable data sources, areas that are potentially vulnerable to gentrification […]

Many Charlotteans enjoy the natural amenity provided by its prominent urban forest, so much so that we’ve become known as “The City of Trees.” However, this lush urban tree canopy is under threat and losing hundreds of acres per year, mostly in residential areas, leaving the City hotter and more prone to flash floods. And […]

Geography and Earth Sciences professor Jack Scheff explained the factors that have led to record heat in the Pacific Northwest in an article titled “Why the latest Western heat wave will be so oppressive” at https://mashable.com/article/heat-wave-west-us-why-so-hot

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. David Hartgen, Professor Emeritus. From 1989 to 2006, Hartgen was Professor of Transportation at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While here, he established the University’s interdisciplinary transportation studies center and conducted numerous studies of transportation systems throughout the nation. He conducted […]