Welcome to the Urban Design Center

Published June 9, 2023

The Urban Design Center’s mission is to advance the quality of Charlotte’s built environment and bring public awareness to the importance of urban design. The center reveals how design influences quality of life and economic resilience, and advocates for great public places in a livable city.

The communities we serve.

This is the first year we are regularly activating our Studio in the South End, using it as one of the primary ways to implement our vision. Our hope is that it becomes a place of belonging for all Charlotte residents to learn about quality urban design and use it to advocate for their communities. Just as meaningful, we hope the Studio can act as a home to the professional design community and be a place to challenge thinking, test new ideas, and celebrate good urban design together.

We have had and will be having events and gatherings for the rest of 2023 and into 2024 that serve both communities and hope you will join us. These include Jazz Night and ice cream, Potions and Pixels Game Night, our third annual Urban Design Awards, and a holiday light installation. The Studio is also open for collaborations between our team, non-profits, design professionals, and organizations that want to join to further our mission.

Urban design accessible to you.

Additionally, please continue to read our quarterly newsletter. We will share opportunities how to be involved in our work and interesting summaries of our projects and partnerships – but also, academically driven, and analytical articles about trends in design and the built environment. We will ask and explore the big questions. Through our newsletter we hope to build a digital community of people who adopt our mission and goals for Charlotte.

Location, location, location. We are thrilled to have our Studio located in the heart of the South End right at the Bland station of the light rail. We have a storefront on one of the most walkable corridors in the city and its accessibility by transit makes it equitably available to all. We are opening our doors by appointment on Mondays through Fridays, between 10am and 3pm. We are happy to meet you to discuss design related issues and questions.

All of us at the Urban Design Center can’t wait to see you one way or the other at our South End Studio soon.