David Walters
Recent Posts
What Makes a Good City? You Need the Right Codes
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How can we stop design and planning mistakes from damaging our city? Part 2 in a series of illustrated essays on urban design.
What Makes a Good City? Urban Design, Explained
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How can we distinguish between good development proposals and the not-so-good? First in a series of illustrated essays explaining urban design principles.
Moving From Zoning’s Alphabet Soup to Describing Real Places
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You probably know places you like. And you probably don't know whether they're MUDD-O, R-22MF or UR-2(CD). A new approach to zoning lets us envision places we like and then come up with ordinances that allow us to build them—without the arcane letters we’re used to. Commentary.
How Zoning Shapes Your Daily Life, Even If You Don’t Know It
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“Zoning” may top your list of boring topics, but it shapes your life. It’s why walking and biking are tough in Charlotte, and why driving is all but essential. And with Charlotte’s zoning ordinance about to change, here’s what you need to know. Commentary.
For Better Designed Development, We’re Going to Need a Better Code
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Charlotte’s apartment boom plus development in popular areas like Plaza Midwood and NoDa are generating questions by residents about why new development looks the way it does and whether it could be better. Yes, it could be better, but that requires a different kind of zoning ordinance. Commentary