What is this Place Type?
What is this Place Type?
Purpose: Help us test and evaluate Charlotte Place Types, a series of new land use/urban design policies for the City of Charlotte. You'll see questions (Step 1, Step 2) and info summaries (Step 3) on some draft categories of Charlotte Place Types. Each Place Type defines the intended character - the look and feel of a place - by describing its land use, design, transportation, and open space characteristics.
Instructions:
Step 1. Identify a place where you live, work or hang out.
Step 2. With this place in mind, answer a series of questions in order to define the characteristics of that place.
Step 3. After defining the characteristics, read the Place Type info summaries and select the Place Type (with land use, design, transportation, and open space elements) that best matches your answers.
Step 1: Identify a place where you live, work, or hang out.
Step 2: Answer the following questions for your home, work, or hang out location.
Step 3: Based on characteristics listed in the previous questions (left) and the Charlotte Place Types info summaries (right), you learned about Place Types that represent some of the most frequent places found throughout our city.
Single Family Residential
Land Use: Low-density residential uses
Building Placement and Orientation: Single Family houses set back from the street at a distance relative to the surrounding houses.
Building Scale: Single Family houses should be no more that 2.5 stories in height and should be relative to surrounding houses.
Streetscape: Streets typically have an 8’ planting strip and a 6’ sidewalk, large enough for 2 people to walk side by side.
Open Space: Playgrounds, greenways, and informal parks
Mixed Residential
Land Use: Moderate-density residential uses
Building Placement and Orientation: Buildings should be closer to the street with the majority of parking behind buildings or to the side. Front doors and entrances should be directly connected to the sidewalk.
Building Scale: Buildings should be no more than 4 stories, with the majority of buildings no more than 3 stories.
Streetscape: Sidewalks tend to be wider with more formal plantings and on-street parking.
Open Space: Playgrounds, greens, and small common areas; space should be flexible and purposeful for residents.
Mixed Use Neighborhood
Land Use: Mix of residential, office, retail uses. Active ground floor uses along are encouraged along Main Streets.
Building Placement and Orientation: Buildings should be built close to the street. Building entrances should be at the back of the sidewalk, with the exception of areas for outdoor dining. All parking is encouraged to be behind buildings.
Building Scale: Buildings should be no more than 4 stories with the majority of buildings no more than 3 stories.
Streetscape: Sidewalks should be wider for people to walk side by side. Trees in tree grates are encouraged to increase the space available for benches, outdoor dining, and other amenities. On-street parking is encouraged to provide additional parking and increase the amount of space between pedestrians and moving traffic.
Open Space: Small gardens, plazas, and greens
Suburban Office/Commercial
Land Use: Mix of retail and office; retail shopping centers and office parks are typical.
Building Placement and Orientation: Parking can be located between buildings and the street. Entrances front the public street, but may also have a primary entrance from adjacent parking lots.
Building Scale: Building heights are appropriate based on adjacent land uses and proximity to residential and existing neighborhoods.
Streetscape: All modes of transportation are important. Provide a wide buffer of landscaping and trees and sidewalk wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Open Space: Plazas, parks, and paths are typically integrated into the buildings and parking.
Mixed Use Activity Center
Land Use: Mix of residential, retail and office uses serve the regional community.
Building Placement and Orientation: Buildings should be built close to the street. Building entrances should be at the back of the sidewalk, with the exception of areas for outdoor dining. Parking should be on-street with additional parking located either in lots behind buildings or in parking decks.
Building Scale: Buildings may range in height from 3 to 10 stories.
Streetscape: Sidewalks should be wider for people to walk side by side. Trees in tree grates are encouraged to increase the space available for benches, outdoor dining, and other amenities. On-street parking is encouraged to provide additional parking and increase the amount of space between pedestrians and moving traffic.
Open Space: Plazas and promenades are flexible to serve many purposes for users.
Light Industrial Mixed Use
Land Use: Mix of employment uses such as office, warehouse/distribution, and light manufacturing. Commercial uses, such as restaurants and stores, are also appropriate to support the large concentration of workers.
Building Placement and Orientation: Buildings are set back from the street. Parking is permitted both in front and to the side of buildings.
Building Scale: Building footprints are larger compared to other place types. Building heights should be no more than 3 stories.
Streetscape: The predominant mode of transportation is transit or automobiles. Sidewalks are encouraged to provide safe connections to transit stops.
Open Space: Large yards that are integrated into the buildings and parking are typical open space.
