Beyond the City Limits: Regional Equity As an Emerging Issue

Our thesis is that this linkage depends upon definition and achievement of regional equity fairness in the distribution of, and opportunities for access to, developed urban land

A Carolina Planning Journal Retrospective: Bridging the Practice-Education Gap

David Godschalk has served as the faculty advisor for Carolina Planning since the journal was launched in 1975. He now shares his experience with the CP community. "I see Carolina Planning as a bridge between planning practice and planning education. Like all bridges, it is a combination of art, structure, and budget. However, the Carolina Planning bridge is unique in that it must be continuously rebuilt. Every year, a new team of editors must select important current articles, design the layout, arrange for printing, and collaborate with the North Carolina APA officers on a publication budget and distribution plan. Remarkably, this challenging enterprise has succeeded year after year for almost three decades.

A Rejoinder: Questions on North Carolina Land Policy

In his article on new directions in state land policy, Bill Swindaman has presented a hopeful and positive view. For balance, some questions about the proposed North Carolina land policy approach need to be raised, if only in preparation for the questioning that will arise when the General Assembly considers the implementing legislation in 1977. At the time of its passage in 1974, the Land Policy Act was thought by many to be a "toothless tiger." Lacking concrete policy proposals and implementation powers, it seemed more like a rhetorical preamble to a land policy than a proposed solution to the state's development problems. Fortunately, the easing of development pressure due to the national economic situation gave us a breathing spell during which we could afford to make use of the three year study approach of the Act. During the past two years a well organized and energetic study effort has been mounted by the Land Policy Council staff, and the fruits of their labors are becoming available for inspection. Planners, public officials, and others affected by the policy must now critically examine the products of the Council's work, and decide about their utility and feasibility

Reprint of article: A Thought for a Growing South by Lewis Mumford, with Commentary by David R. Godschalk

With so much attention focused on planning for the "new South," the sense of a historical perspective is often lost. Carolina Planning is grateful to two of our readers for bringing the following article by Lewis Mumford to our attention, suggesting that after forty years it "may still be worth reading." Mumford, best known for his pioneering works such as The Culture of Cities (1938), wrote "A Thought for the Growing South" in 1949 after spending a year teaching in North Carolina universities. The article was commissioned by George Myers Stephens, publisher of The Southern Packet (who was also the father of two graduates of the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill). We reprint the article here with great pleasure, along with commentary by DCRP professor David R. Godschalk, who explores the relevance of Mumford 's thoughts to the state of the "growing South" of today. We hope that renewed examination of this piece will be thought-provoking to current planning students and practitioners, now in a position to guide the course of development in our region

Attacking the Racial Isolation of the Underclass: Explanations and Strategies for a New Era

Twenty-five years after the Kerner Commission issued its report on urban poverty and civil disorders, urban African-American communities face a situation that has grown steadily worse. The most blatant legal obstacles to African-Americans have been struck down, but societal discrimination and economic inequality still prevent many blacks from enjoying a status that is truly equal. As the nation's population has become more urban, the populations of the central cities have become disproportionately African-American, Hispanic, and Asian. Poverty in America has decreased in non-metropolitan areas while growing rapidly in the central cities. The impact of this increase has fallen most heavily on residents of the 'ghetto neighborhoods' described by the Kerner Commission, sixty-five percent of whom are African-Americans. The number of poor persons living in ghetto neighborhoods increased by 30 percent between 1970 and 1980, at which time almost a third of all metropolitan blacks lived in a ghetto. Recent studies have suggested that a fundamental change in the nature of urban poverty has accompanied its statistical increase. These studies point to the existence of a new sociological group: the 'urban underclass.' While there is no firm consensus over how the underclass differs from what used to be known as the lower class, there is general agreement that the underclass is characterized by high levels of joblessness, illiteracy, violence, despair, and a growing economic, spatial, and cultural isolation from "mainstream" America

Turning Points in Planning Education: The UNC Experience

Planning education in the US faced major turning points during the last half of the twentieth century. It went from design to social science-based curricula, developed functional specializations beyond comprehensive planning, introduced computer technology, and responded to globalization. This article reflects on the impacts of these turning points on the Department of City and Regional Planning (DCRP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Progress Report on Charting a Course for Our Coast: Not All Smooth Sailing

This report discusses progress made during the past five years toward implementing the 1994 report of the North Carolina Coastal Futures Committee, as reviewed at the State of the Coast Summit held in Wilmington on October 8, 1999. It compares the recommendations from Charting a Course for Our Coast with accomplishments to date, pointing out some dangerous shoals

Some Thoughts On Planners and the New Dispute Resolution (Commentary)

Dispute resolution techniques have come a long way from the old ad hoc approaches derived from academic psychology experiments. The new methods deserve an important place in the planner's tool kit. In fact, planners trained in the new techniques often are better equipped to resolve development disputes than lawyers or outside mediators

Hazard Reduction Through Development Management in Hurricane-Prone Localities: State of the Art

The state of the art in using development management strategies to reduce hurricane hazards is explored through a 1984 survey of hurricane-prone localities in 19 states. Contrary to some of the hazard mitigation literature, results show not only a high priority for hazard mitigation but also a high reliance on development management approaches, as compared with building, strengthening, and environmental alteration