Rural/Urban Development

Where are we now?

Today, North Carolinians are seeing more and more people move here. Now, 8.5 million people call North Carolina their home, yet by 2050 there may be up to 13 million North Carolinians. With so many people, many things that you do with your piece of land will affect your neighbors.

Many people think we should plan our communities more. Community-based planning looks at what is best for the community as a whole. Without this kind of planning, we could lose valuable natural resources that will hurt our economy.

What does it all mean?

How could community-based planning help us? People want easier access to services like schools, shops, fire departments, medical care, and police. People want attractive streets and buildings.

Although people want tighter and more carefully planned development, some people still want a rural home and three acres out in the woods far beyond the community. Unfortunately, letting this happen often can drive up many hidden costs to the community. The further away these suburban and rural homes are from the services (water, sewer, emergency services, power, cable TV, schools and so on), the greater the cost to the community.

Existing North Carolina towns could provide space for housing twice our population. For this, we need to plan residential communities largely within city limits and design them better to attract interested buyers. In fact, recent North Carolina home developments, built to be more accessible to services but also well designed, now attract lots of potential buyers.