Mobile Workshops: Tuesday, November 13

Participants will travel by charter bus to visit the Marion Diehl Multigenerational Play Park, which is located adjacent to a county recreation center and senior center. Provided to the community by Southminster, a senior housing and continuing care organization, the park features a cushioned surface, fun play structures for children, space for walking laps and fitness equipment that is pre-calibrated to provide individualized weight-lifting exercises suitable for older adults. There’s even a stationary bicycle that will charge a cell phone as a user pedals. The park’s equipment consultant will be on-site to explain the play space’s many age-friendly features. En route to the park, mobile workshop participants will watch a video about the project, featuring placemaking and parks expert Gil Penalosa of 8 80 Cities. The outing’s second stop will be at the First Ward Park in Uptown Charlotte, where attendees will learn about the private-public partnership that succeeded in turning an unused area into a popular, multigenerational park and public space. As a bonus activity, Southminster, which runs the local chapter of the global Cycling Without Age program, will provide "trishaw" bicycle rides. (Through the program, trained volunteers — called “pilots” — take older adults and people with disabilities on trishaw rides to get them outdoors and, as Cycling Without Age’s founder says, let them “once again feel the wind in their hair.”)  Since the field trip ends right in Charlotte’s active commercial and residential district, participants can choose to explore the area (including the popular 7^th Street Public Market, an indoor market of local shops and eateries) and then walk or take the light rail back to the convention hotel. [CM 2.0]

4. Play Ball! 
Departure: 2:15 p.m. | Duration: 2.5+ hours

Sports teams and their arenas are prominent institutions and venues in center city Charlotte. This mobile workshop is an opportunity for conference attendees to visit the BB&T Ballpark (home of the popular Charlotte Knights, a Triple-A minor league baseball team), the Bank of America Stadium (Carolina Panthers football) and the Spectrum Arena (Charlotte Hornets basketball). Parts of the behind-the-scenes tour will be led by Ron Kimble, who as Charlotte’s long-time but now retired deputy city manager was responsible for much of the city’s economic development and the public-private partnerships that turned the uptown area into a well-used, transit-friendly sports and entertainment hub. Although the venues are within walkable distance of one another, for efficiency’s sake, participants will be transported by charter bus. [CM 2.0]

5. Missing Middle Housing Walking Tour
Activity start time 2:15 pm | Duration: 2+ hours

After decades during which new housing construction was dominated by either large-scale structures (apartment buildings) or single-family homes. the housing options in the middle — such as duplexes, triplexes and bungalows in walkable communities — went missing. Architect Daniel Parolek of Opticos Design refers to this loss as "Missing Middle Housing." An associate from Opticos will lead a one-mile walking tour of the Elizabeth neighborhood where these homes still exist. Participants will travel together by public transit to and from the tour location near Independence Park. [CM 2.0]

6. Housing for All
Departure: 2:15 p.m. | Duration: 2 hours

Learn how the Double Oaks neighborhood has been transformed from a blighted, high-crime community into a 98-acre, mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood with affordable rental apartments, market rate single-family houses and townhomes. Now called Brightwalk, the North End neighborhood was developed by The Housing Partnership (also called the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership), a private, nonprofit housing development and finance corporation with a mission to develop affordable housing, create vibrant communities and provide the opportunity for strong futures. The Brightwalk community is LEED certified, and the area’s redevelopment included the cleanup and closure of an unregulated landfill site that has been transformed into a community green space. Participants in this mobile workshop will take a bus tour of Brightwalk and meet with Fred Dodson, Jr., CEO and executive vice president of The Housing Partnership, to hear about the neighborhood’s past, present and future and learn how the partnership’s housing model works and is being replicated. 

7. Arts and Parks Urban Tour
Departure: 3:30 p.m. | Duration: 1.5+ hours

Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s public art program was initiated in 1981. Two decades later, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and the Charlotte City Council adopted ordinances that allocate one percent of eligible capital investment funds for public art. This guided walking tour of Charlotte's Avenue of the Arts will leave from the convention hotel and do a roughly two-mile loop of the Uptown Charlotte area to see and learn about the local urban parks (The Green and the Romare Bearden Park are stops), iconic sculptures and public art installations. This mobile workshop is a great way to see and explore Charlotte’s cultural arts neighborhood, which in addition to museums and creative outdoor spaces, features many shops and restaurants. [CM 1.0]

8. See the South End 
Departure: 5:00 p.m. | Duration: 1 hour or several!

The Charlotte Rail Trail (a walk-bike trail) and the LYNX Light Rail have helped to inspire development and lots of placemaking in Charlotte’s South End. This outing is designed for conference attendees who want to attend a session every time one is offered but also want to see at least some of the surrounding area. The excursion will involve a one-mile rail trail walk or two-stop light rail ride to visit the neighborhood around the Bland Street Station, which in addition to shops and diverse restaurant options, has a swing set and seesaw (for people of all ages), a “hexpong” play table (think ping-pong playable by six people) and a “Before I die …” chalkboard — inspired by the work of New Orleans artist Cindy Chang — where passersby can write a sentence about a goal or goals they want to achieve. After a brief sightseeing sampler, participants can head to dinner and then take the light-rail back to Stonewall Station, which is directly connected to the convention hotel.

Another Activity Option: Get hands-on experience by implementing a Lean Livability demonstration project right outside the conference hotel at 3:30 p.m. For details, see the session description for Lean Livability: Making Lovable Places for $500 or Less.