“Smart growth” may not be so smart after all.  New research challenges the orthodoxy that dense urban development is better for the health of people living there.

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The prevalence of low-wage work has profound impacts on the capabilities of workers to sustain their families.  Yet, the impact of low-wage work radiates well beyond the person who is employed or the employer to several different segments of an economic ecosystem.

The League of American Bicyclists has designated UNC at Chapel Hill as a Silver-Level Bike Friendly University. The Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bike-able campus for students, staff and visitors.

Climate change is transforming the outer edge of the Southern US coastal plain. Lower-lying parts of this region, characterized by extensive freshwater-dependent ecosystems, will be largely inundated by gradual sea level rise by the end of this century.

A new study by DCRP Professor Noreen McDonald confirms Safe Routes to School programs increase rates of walking and bicycling to and from school.

Faculty and students at DCRP carry out an extensive body of research and engage in a variety of projects working with local communities and clients. Research is carried out at our own research centers as well as through partnerships with academic, governmental, business, and non-profit organizations.  Students in the department are also active participants in community-based planning workshop courses in which they engage directly with local community groups.

The New Climate Economy - a report that was just released by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate that looks at the conditions under which climate security can be good for growth.

Faceless estates. Sprawling suburbs. Soulless financial districts. Discredited elsewhere as fostering the worst kind of urban angst, these are the vogue in China – but change could be afoot.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Andrew H. Whittemore (AICP).  Whittemore joins the department as an Assistant Professor in the Placemaking and Real Estate Development specialization.  His research focuses on urban form and design, planning history and theory, land use planning and zoning, primarily in the North American context.

UNC researchers are helping Warren County officials find ways to boost local business without sacrificing their rural quality of life.

Half a century of life as a planner! Is there any framework capable of capturing the high and low points of that experience?  Looking back at a life as a planner–educator, Dr. Godschalk sees many positive signs that three main concepts not only continue to shape the field of planning in fundamental ways, but are gaining steam.

While the first thing that might come to mind is the expense of each trip, including the purchasing and fueling school buses and paying for drivers,  many other factors  influence the cost of school transportation especially when all modes of travel are considered.

As restoration efforts proliferate, it is important to know what impact, if any, large-scale wetland and stream restoration have on surrounding land values. Restoration effects on real estate values have substantial implications for protecting resources, increasing tax base, and improving environmental policies.

Asheville's city government is pushing to increase the supply of affordable housing. Late last year, city staff commissioned DCRP's Mai Nguyen to compare their efforts to provide more affordable housing with what other, similar municipalities have done.

HOU Xin is a visiting scholar in the Program on Chinese Cities, an initiative of the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Center for Urban Studies in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.

This deeper dive into the state’s most distressed areas using tract-level data reveals pockets of extreme distress in the state’s urban areas.

Bridges2Success will offer middle and high school coaches a model for helping their players achieve academic, as well as athletic, success.

Reem Ghunaim is studying city and regional planning, specializing in economic development. She will graduate in May 2014 with a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrowed it from our children. This adage reflects the essence of sustainable development whether applied to the environment, economy, or social and cultural sphere. A digital excerpt from the new book, Sustainable Development Projects: Integration Design, Development, and Regulation.

It’s a long way geographically from the small town of Coca, Ecuador, located in the Amazon rainforest, to Chapel Hill.

This book tells the fascinating story of the talented, energetic, and far-sighted faculty, students, and university administrators, highlighting the unique circumstances and opportunities that shaped the sometimes rocky evolution of the Department.  Observations and anecdotes by alumni and faculty are sprinkled in the margins along with one hundred photos of people, occasions, and places.

Ever wonder what projects you could be working on as a DCRP student? We asked a couple of Nichola Lowe's students. Faculty and students at DCRP carry out an extensive body of research and engage in a variety of projects working with local communities and clients.

Imagine if Myrtle Beach morphed into a megacity double the size of New York City in just three decades. Impossible? Not in China.