Study: Planning Failed the Decaying Suburban Subdivision of Windy Ridge

A new study that examines the contributing and enabling factors that led to high foreclosure rates, neighborhood decline, and disparate impacts on low-income populations in the subdivision of Windy Ridge, near Charlotte, North Carolina.

1 minute read

April 14, 2014, 8:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


A new research paper by Janni Sorensen, Jose Gamez, and Melissa Curie examines the development process of Windy Ridge, a subdivision in Charlotte, North Carolina. The study, called “Windy Ridge: A neighborhood built to fail” will be published in the July 2014 edition of Applied Geography.

According to the paper’s abstract, “[the] development was aided by a city as growth machine environment that failed this and other neighborhoods through the lapse of proper planning oversight.”

Windy Ridge was the poster child for suburban decay in 2008—called a “slumburb” and more by multiple national publications.

Monday, April 14, 2014 in Applied Geography

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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