Recapping my time at CNU 31 in Charlotte

Charlotte gained a lot of new fans this week. The overwhelming feeling I got from talking to first timers in the city was positive. From the cohesive urban footprint stretching miles from South End to Uptown, to the great mix of neighborhoods of Noda, Plaza Midwood, and Dilworth sprinkled in between, some of the toughest urbanism critics were left impressed.

There’s still huge challenges of course such as insane rates of sprawl, lack of afforabiltiy, swaths of surface lots in Uptown, and of course I-277 slicing through it all.

CNU kicked off Wednesday Evening with a party that made great use of one of the many surface lots Uptown. But that wasn’t before I spent the day working and exploring Camp North End and Optimist Hall.

Atlanta development great Eric Kronberg and Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston hit the main stage to officially open the Congress Thursday Morning. Kronberg summed up the housing crisis with startling facts and figures around density and affordability. This is also a topic he and I wrote about in the first issue of Southern Urbanism Quarterly earlier this year.

Thursday also happened to be UDO Day for Charlotte. The new UDO took affect Thursday which Winston played a huge role in bringing to life. The new UDO sets Charlotte up for tomorrow and opens the door to possibility by legalizing duplexes, ADUs, and fourplexes city wide. It’s not without challenges however as a last ditch effort to strip some of the zoning efforts has risen.

Other sessions I attended that day featured sessions on how CNU is working to attract a young and diverse base, opposing sides of the YIMBY / development movement, and changing the media narratives around the new urbanist movement.

I also had the pleasure in taking part in an Engineer’s Forum in which we discussed ways the Engineering field can evolve to better support walkability and cities in general. Some of the main themes were new and updated metrics, better communication and collaboration between entities, and education reform.

The Evening was full of exploration with a 17 mile scooter ride through some of Charlotte’s best neighborhoods such as Noda, Dilworth and South End. The network of greenways and on street infrastructure made this a very low stress ride. Check out the gallery for a taste of some of the highlights and beautiful mix of housing types.

Friday kicked off with an early morning ride to capture some sunrise drone shots.

Some colleagues and I then led clients from NW Arkansas on a tour of South End focused on TOD opportunities.

Sessions attended on Friday included urban street design practices, methods in attracting a diverse talent pool, and a highway transformation workshop in which I also had the honor of participating in the equity discussion portion. Removing highways in urban environments is a win and has endless benefits, but we must ensure that those benefits are available to all. Brooklyn Village was a thriving Black neighborhood adjacent to Uptown which was demolished during Urban Renewal efforts and to construct I-277.

Another great ride and walk was in store for the evening through the great neighborhoods of Plaza Midwood, Uptown, South End, Wesley Heights, and Seversville. Hats off to Charlotte for some of the best on street infrastructure and greenway elements around.

Attendees who struck around Saturday morning were left with powerful presentations from Mitchell Silver and Marques King. Silver dove into more details about the Brooklyn Village neighborhood, where over 3000 residents were displaced as well as other wrongs that we must right within the industry. It was truly inspiring and will honestly shape a lot of my thinking going forward. As mentioned earlier I’ve explored how a I-277 removal can work but it’s time to go beyond that and think about how Brooklyn Village can be properly restored. The highway removal will just be one piece of the greater effort.

Other sessions Saturday included tips on creating better building faces from the street and closing reflections from CNU staff, Terry Shook, and Taiwo Jaiyeoba. It also left me with a great new phrase to replace NIMBY – The Cave People, Citizens Against Virtually Everything.

Being my first Congress, I went in not really knowing what to expect. I came away extremely impressed, inspired, and energized. CNU’s commitment to diversity among their membership and leadership should be noted. The connections I made and things I learned will last a lifetime. I wish I could list everyone who took the time to speak with me or left an impact on me! See you all next year in Cincinnati.

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Phil Veasley is a registered Professional Engineer in NC and GA. Opinions and insights are my own and are not representative of my employer or any organization. Any ideas displayed on this site are purely that – just ideas to help improve the future of the built environment and begin discussions.